


Wolf Calling

by livingfree



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:08:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 49,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22424596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livingfree/pseuds/livingfree
Summary: Louis Weasley is fresh out of healer training. Can he handle St. Mungo's bustling activity, or will he bulk under the pressure? He's about to discover that he still has a lot more growing to do despite already being certified.| Lovely banner made by Jeanie @TDA!2013 Golden Snitches Winner in the following categories:Character (Louis Weasley) You'd Be BFFs With [and] Best Male Character (Louis Weasley)2013 Golden Snitches Runner-Up (2nd place): Most Imaginative2013 Golden Snitches Finalist (3rd place): Best Cast of Characters
Relationships: Louis Weasley/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 4





	1. Decision

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and the Wizarding World. The only things I own are the plot and any original characters that I've crafted from my mind.
> 
> Author's Note: This fic was originally posted on HPFF (my penname there is onestop_hpfan18). I'm slowly making the transition toward moving some of my fics over here. Updates should be immediate until I reach the point where I left off with this fic, then they'll slow down as I'm also working on a couple other fics, too.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't expected this. I had gone through life without being noticed up until now, and now everything seems to be happening all at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: The HP-verse of Wolf Calling is a couple years prior to my fic Because I Love You and there is a spoiler for that ending that appears later on. So if you don't wish to be spoiled for that fic, then maybe go finish that one before you read this one. That said, my family tree of characters are all related across Why Not, Because I Love You, Wolf Calling, and Broom Cupboard. The only difference being that each story takes place in a different year and follow a different plot and characters.

Chapter 1

Decision

I hadn’t expected this. I had gone through life without being noticed, that was until my supervising healer approached me. He told me that I didn’t have to decide right away, but that I should still get back to him before the week was up with my answer. My head was still spinning. I still didn’t feel like a healer having finished my training only months previous, yet my supervisor seemed to think my brains could help aid the research in finding the werewolf behind a string of attacks on children. It was bollocks that.  
  
It made me wonder if any of the other healers from my training classes had been recruited or if I was the only one. If it was only me they were recruiting, then what had they seen in me that could be of use to their research? I mean, aside from finishing my training at the top of my class there wasn’t anything special about me. I was twenty-three and I still got picked on by my sisters for crying out loud. I was nothing, a zero. Yet they had seen something in me.  
  
Me, the bloke who couldn’t even land a date; imagine that. But that’s irrelevant. The point was that my supervisor thought I could help the research move forward. Right now the research team had hit a dead end. Maybe they needed me because I was great at the science part of researching. I was good at science because I liked how everything had a scientific conclusion. Maybe the reason my social skills was lacking was because I thought too much.  
  
My mum worried about me. She said I focused too intently on my work. I told her that I had to if I wanted to excel in my career, but she said that I could still excel if I allowed myself more time to socialise. But she didn’t get how demanding being a healer was, how much people looked to you for answers. It was the whole reason I had wanted to be a healer. Being the youngest, I was never looked up to. At least as a healer I could be the one looked to for the answers.  
  
But that still didn’t mean I was ready to join a research team that was working with both the Aurors and the Werewolf Control Unit to find the werewolf behind these attacks. My uncle Harry was Head Auror and he said they had no leads whatsoever about who was running around infecting these poor children; they were all scrabbling around in the dark on this one. The children would definitely be my main motive for accepting if I did. Who would ever dare attack a child? Children were defenseless, innocent.  
  
I had basically already made my decision based on my need to help avenge for these children being infected, destined to turn into werewolves every full moon for the rest of their lives. I was the bloke, after all, who donated spare knuts to children in need even when I was barely making enough to squeak by when I was still in training.  
  
Aside from wanting my voice to be heard, the other reason I had become a healer was to help people in need. Being the youngest in my immediate family, not counting all my cousins because there are far too many of them, I liked to think I could get down to a child’s level enough for them to open up to me. Heck, I was still a child myself. Just ask my Dad and he’d tell you that I still couldn’t do my own taxes; or even my Mum because I still brought my laundry over every weekend for her to wash. For someone who was supposed to be smart, I was still quite dependant on my parents.  
  
Another factor to consider in making my decision was that my Dad had been bitten, too. Of course he had been bitten by a werewolf who was still in his human form, which was why he didn’t shift on full moons. Instead the only thing my Dad felt was restlessness on the day of the full moon; and he had an appetite for extra rare steaks. He had it lucky. Yet he didn’t. But my brother-in-law wasn’t so lucky, or rather his son wasn’t.  
  
I had known Teddy since I was old enough to remember people. He and Victoire had always been friends, but they had started dating the summer before Victoire had started her last year at Hogwarts. But I digress. Teddy’s father had been a werewolf and passed the gene on to his son even if Teddy never had shifted himself, he still managed somehow to passed it on to his son. My nephew was only three and he had been through more pain than I ever had; just on full moon nights alone. It was curious, then, how exactly lycanthropy was passed on; why would it skip Teddy, but not his son? It was enough to hurt my brain just thinking about the science behind the study of werewolf genetics.  
  
But the main point here was in finding a conclusive DNA strand that would tell us whether the werewolf behind the attacks was registered. If he wasn’t registered then it almost seemed like all the work being done to find out who was attacking these children was pointless. I mean, I’d still put my everything into finding the sick bastard that was responsible for ripping a normal childhood from these kids, but was I smart enough to work alongside the Healers that had already had years of experience under their belts? Probably not; I was, after all, still fresh out of training. In fact, I was still assisting my supervisor for crying out loud. But how could I ever be ready to move forward in my career if I didn’t at least try when opportunities like this one were offered to me. I had to try because if I didn’t I could never forgive myself for letting it pass me by.  
  
I guess you could say I had just made my decision right then, but I had no intention of running to tell my supervisor just then. No, I decided, I’d sleep on it. Of course, I was working the night shift so it wouldn’t be until after the sun had risen that my head touched my pillow. But those were details.  
  
“Louis, what are you doing just standing in the hallway?”  
  
I turned on the spot to notice my supervising healer staring at me. “I, uh, was just coming to find you.” I hoped that I didn’t look as much like an idiot as I sounded. Maybe I shall explain. See, my eyes had a tendency of widening for no apparent reason when I was startled. Or even nervous. Actually, my eyes would widen anytime, no matter what emotion I was feeling; it was annoying. I only knew about the tick because my sisters teased me about it when I was a kid.  
  
“Well, get in here, then,” Healer Newman said.  
  
“What’s the issue,” I said, trying to sound professional.  
  
I say trying because really there wasn’t anything professional about me. Or at least that’s the way I felt a lot of the time. Despite the fact that I wore these lime green healer robes with the bone and wand insignia over the left breast pocket, I still felt like an imposter, like any second I would wake up to a completely different life.  
  
“Apparently Ms Granthen had another dizzy spell,” Healer Newman told me as we walked into the room, then addressed the Ms Granthen. “You just can’t stay away from us, can you, Ethel?”  
  
“With healers as attractive as you fine young men I’d like to see you try to keep me away.”  
  
I laughed nervously. So I’m used to old ladies hitting on me on a fairly regular basis, but women my age didn’t typically find me attractive. Or at least that’s how I saw it since they never seemed to notice me in that way, or any way for that matter. I supposed I’m not anyone’s type except for old witches who fainted on a regular basis just to land themselves in St. Mungo’s overnight on observation. Yeah, I was living the life.  
  
“Yeah, my fiancé finds me dashing, too,” Healer Newman said.  
  
“Enough of this fiancé business,” Ethel said. “Run away with me.”  
  
“I don’t think your husband would be too thrilled with that idea.”  
  
“Oh, he’ll get over it,” Ethel said. “You come, too, Louis.”  
  
“Uh,” I said, unsure of how exactly to respond without hurting the elderly witch’s feelings.  
  
“Always the shy one,” Ethel remarked of me. “I will break through that tough shell of yours soon, I promise you that. Just ask Thomas.”  
  
Healer Newman shook his head, still wearing a grin, as he measured out Ethel’s nightly dosage before handing it to her. While the witch drank the potion down, Healer Newman ran his wand over her body, assessing any changes in her vitality before marking the check-up off on the clipboard that hung at the end of the bed. There wasn’t much left for me to do, which was why I hated that every healer had to complete a certain number of hours with a supervising healer before they could practice on their own. I was so close to completing my supervision.  
  
“Louis isn’t as shy as you’d think,” Healer Newman said. “He’s just reserved, but he can talk your ear off when he’s in a chatty mood.”  
  
This was sort of a lie, sort of not. I could talk a lot, but only when I had something to talk about. That said, there was little I felt like talking about outside of my circle of friends. Or maybe triangle of friends was more accurate since I only had two friends, who also happened to be my flatmates. But I preferred to keep to myself, especially at work. The last thing I needed was to get intertwined in the gossip mill that changed on a daily basis among the staff here at St. Mungo’s. If I had to hear about who hooked up with whom one more time, well, you get the picture. I didn’t like gossip one bit and I tried my damn best to stay out of it.  
  
Though there was this one girl in training that had… no, I’m not going to say. To say anything would be to spread gossip and I’m against that. I honestly couldn’t really tell you what the current gossip was because I tended to tune it all out. I find it easy to block out unnecessary things. In a way, I lived inside my own head, though that just made me sound crazy. Anyway, I digress.  
  
“You’re on watch on the children’s floor this evening,” Healer Newman told me when we were back in the hall. “I’ll be checking in with you every couple hours to make sure everything is running smoothly. If any medical issues crop up you’re to page me over the magi-com, and I’ll come straight away.”  
  
“Of course,” I said. “Wouldn’t dream of trying to save a kid’s life before paging you to inform you of what’s happening.”  
  
“Louis,” Healer Newman said, eyebrows raised.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, I know what to do, Thomas.”  
  
“You’re almost finished with your supervision,” Healer Newman reminded me. “I know you don’t like it, but it’s mandatory for a reason.”  
  
“Of course it is.”  
  
I felt less a healer when there was someone watching me, critiquing everything I did wrong. It made me feel inadequate. It was helpful, which was why it was mandatory, but it was also mind numbing. Being supervised made me feel as though I were a charmed toy, acting the way the supervisor directed me to act. There were times I felt like I was Thomas’s puppet because he always seemed to parrot what he wanted me to do and since he’s my supervisor I had to listen and do as he told me to.  
  
At least I was stationed on the children’s floor that night. That was probably the least busy of our floors currently, the most hectic being the Dai Llewellyn Ward. The few occupied rooms in the children’s ward held a boy with Spattergoit, a girl still recovering from the enlargement charm that had caused her to swell up hours ago, and a girl with a fever and ailment—she still hadn’t been diagnosed. The most recent werewolf bitten children were up in the Dai Llewellyn Ward.  
  
I hated it on that ward. Being up there always made me feel helpless because often times there wasn’t anything we could do for the patients except give them potions or rub a solvent over their injury or, in the case of those bitten by a werewolf, help them get accumulated to their new lives. I got frustrated when there wasn’t a definite cure for something.  
  
That’s probably going to be the key that helped me decide on whether I accepted my supervisor’s offer or not. Even if there was no cure, I still felt like I had to at least try to find the werewolf responsible for the crime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Here's a Potter-Weasley Family Tree to give you an idea of where this fic fits into the HP-verse timeline, as well as ages for all the characters:
> 
> Bill Weasley -- Fleur Delacour  
> Victoire Weasley (29) married Teddy R. Lupin (30)  
> Dominique Weasley (25)  
> Louis Weasley (23)
> 
> Charlie Weasley - single
> 
> Percy Weasley -- Audrey Clearwater {younger sister of Penelope}  
> Molly Weasley (II) (27) {married}  
> Lucy Weasley (21)
> 
> Fred Weasley - deceased {RIP}
> 
> George Weasley -- Angelina Johnson  
> Fred Weasley (II) (25)  
> Roxianne Weasley (23)
> 
> Ron Weasley -- Hermione Granger  
> Rose Weasley (24)  
> Hugo Weasley (22)
> 
> Ginny Weasley -- Harry Potter  
> James Sirius Potter (II) (25)  
> Albus Severus Potter – (24)  
> Lily Luna Potter (II) (22)
> 
> Luna Lovegood – Rolf S. had two sons, Lorcan S. and Lysander S. (twins) (22)
> 
> Neville Longbottom – Hannah Abbot had a son, Frank Longbottom II (22)


	2. Sleep - what's that?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You know, we should totally get drinks at the Leaky to celebrate.”
> 
> “I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I said.
> 
> I wasn’t one for drinking, mainly because I couldn’t hold my liquor. And I’m not talking about throwing it back up either. I’m talking being so drunk you need someone to babysit you.

Chapter 2

Sleep - what's that?

#

There wasn’t much else to do but go home after a twelve hour night shift. Of course I could have stopped at a diner for breakfast, but I was too exhausted to think about eating. My mum probably wouldn’t have believed her ears if I had told her that food was the last thing on my mind. But that was how I felt after powering through a night shift. It was also the reason I found myself collapsed, face down, on my bed just seconds after Apparating back to the flat I shared with my friends.  
  
But in the few years since I'd been living in this flat with Brody and Michael I’ve learned just how hard it was to sleep during the day. The reason why I found it extremely difficult to sleep was because after working through the night at the hospital my friends would come home; they really were the most obnoxiously loud buggers to ever set foot in the world. There was a chance I was exaggerating, but when you’re trying to sleep everything tends to sound louder than in actuality.  
  
“Oi! Where’d I put my other trainer?”  
  
“How should _I_ know where _your_ trainer is?”  
  
“Well, did you see it then?”  
  
“No, it’s not my trainer; wouldn’t it be close to where the other one was?”  
  
I stopped paying attention to what they were saying, instead hearing their voices as white noise. Like that was any better. I was a light sleeper as it was and here my roommates were arguing over where a missing shoe was hiding in the kitchen. Some random, if interesting, insights about kitchens were they tended to magnify a person’s voice due to shiny appliances and big, empty pots that hung on rungs over the stove. Also, sinks, that’s all, just sinks. Empty sinks made the slightest sound grow in octaves. We had a constant drip in our sink, so I was used to that; in fact, I could hear that drip of water pinging on the closed drain of the sink just beneath my flatmates’ garbled talking.  
  
So loud that my inner ear felt like it was vibrating; though it was probably just my imagination since my friends weren’t being _that_ loud.  
  
“Is Louis here? Sleeping?”  
  
My ears perked, straining at the sound of my name.  
  
“I think so,” Brody’s voice. “I heard a cracking in the flat before dawn this morning.”  
  
“And what if it had been a burglar?”  
  
“Get real, Michael,” Brody said. “We’re wizards. If we were being robbed then all we’d have to do is use our wands against the intruder.”  
  
Sighing, I sat up in bed. There was no way I was going to be able to get back to sleep until after they left for their jobs. It was a good thing that I didn’t have to be back in until tomorrow morning.  
  
“Morning, sleepy head,” Brody said when he noticed me standing in the doorway of my bedroom, “How was your shift last night? Any strange cases come stumbling in?”  
  
My job had ended up turning from dull to hilarious for my friends ever since I had started interning while still in my training when I started telling them of the gruesome charms gone wrong. Like the guy that had somehow managed to transfigure a few extra arms and legs on various points of his body. I’m still scarred because one of the extra arms had spouted from the wizard’s arse. Seriously, you’d think fully grown wizards would know how to use magic, but the number of disturbed cases of charms gone awry far outnumbered our serious cases. It was ridiculous.  
  
“Not that I’m aware of,” I said. “But then again I had a quiet shift since there were only three kids on the children’s floor.”  
  
“How is the kid that was last attacked fairing?” Michael asked.  
  
“Alright, I guess,” I said. “I didn’t go into the Dai Llewellyn ward last night.”  
  
“It’s sick that these kids are being targeted the way they are.”  
  
I nodded. “Thomas offered me a chance to join the research to finding the werewolf involved yesterday.”  
  
“What’d you say?” Brody asked.  
  
“I didn’t say anything,” I said. “I didn’t know what to say.”  
  
“You should definitely take the promotion.”  
  
Michael nodded in agreement. “Definitely, it’ll be something to do since I know how bored you are being supervised; you complain enough about the mandatory supervision hours as it is.”  
  
“I don’t complain that much.”  
  
Both Brody and Michael looked at me pointedly. Okay, maybe I did complain a lot.  
  
“You know, we should totally get drinks at the Leaky tonight to celebrate.”  
  
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I said.  
  
I wasn’t one for drinking, mainly because I couldn’t hold my liquor. And I’m not talking about throwing it back up either. I’m talking being so drunk you need someone to babysit you. I also tended to point my wand at random spots in whichever pub I was in, whether it was magical or muggle. Yeah, I was a walking hazard when I got drunk.  
  
“I know that look,” Brody said. “But don’t worry, man.”  
  
“Don’t worry,” I said. “You do remember the last time I got drunk at Leaky, right?”  
  
“Yeah, you made sparks and ribbons erupt from your wand as you stood on the bar dancing to some song from that hot new Wizard boy band.”  
  
“That was funny,” Michael recalled.  
  
“No, it wasn’t.”  
  
It wasn’t often I found myself in a crazy situation since I generally kept a level head on my shoulders. But when I got some drinks into my system, well, you get the picture by now. It wouldn’t be pretty at all, but I could also tell that my friends weren’t going to back down on going to the Leaky Cauldron tonight. I had no choice but to agree to meet them later.  
  
After Brody and Michael left the flat to head to their respected Ministry of Magic office jobs, I made myself some eggs and sausage for breakfast before heading back into my room to try to get at least another couple hours of sleep. I was unsuccessful, though. This was partly due to the fact that I usually couldn’t get back to sleep after waking up already, but mainly due to the tapping sounds drifting through my slightly ajar door from the kitchen. It had to be a letter since the Daily Prophet arrived much earlier than, I looked at my watch, half past ten in the morning.  
  
Getting out of bed took a lot of work because I was hesitant to leave my nest of blankets and pillows having just warmed them back up but the insistent tapping on the window pulled me out of it. It actually annoyed me. I knew it was an owl and they were only doing the bidding of their master and didn’t mean any harm, but I had just gotten comfy again.  
  
The first thing the owl did when I unlocked the latch and pushed open the window was fly in, wracking the side of my head in the process. “Why you little wanker,” I muttered, rubbing my head before realising that it was my parents’ owl, Misty. “What does Mum want from me now, huh, Misty?”  
  
Misty dutifully held out the leg that had a rolled-up parchment attached to it while balancing on the other on the back of a chair at the table, which was still a mess from breakfast. I really should do the dishes since it was probably long past my turn. Plus, the sink was piled with more dirtied dishes and pots and flatware in one of the double sinks. Shaking my head, I untied the scroll and unfurled it to find the familiar cursive of my mum’s handwriting. The letter was short, but to the point. Apparently she knew that I must be running out of clean clothes since I hadn’t been over for the past three weekends. In fact, I had even had to wear a couple of my lime green healer robes that were still basically clean due to running out of freshly laundered robes.  
  
I sniffed the t-shirt I was wearing currently and had to pull my nose away from the sleeve fast because of the stench; I’d been sleeping in the same t-shirt and pajama bottoms for the past week. I pulled the t-shirt up and over my head, setting it on the back of a chair before heading back into my room and tossed all my dirty laundry into a sack. I guess sleeping would be out of the question today, at least until I got home from the Leaky. I guess I was just doomed to be perpetually sleep deprived. It was my own fault for choosing such a demanding profession, but I’d choose it all over again if I had to.  
  
When I finally managed to find a pair of clean trousers and a shirt that was draped on the corner of my wardrobe that smelled fine, I dragged the sack into the living room and threw some floo powder into the fire place before stepping in. “Shell Cottage.” Green flames whooshed me away and I could just make out the blur of other fireplaces in my peripheral vision. Seconds later, I found myself stumbling into the living room of my childhood home, tracking ash into the rug.  
  
I heard my mum call out from the kitchen, water running in the sink, “Is that you, Louis?” My mother had an uncanny knack of knowing, just by our footsteps, which of her children, or husband, had arrived before actually seeing any of us. It was actually kind of startling that she knew us that well enough from a single footstep.  
  
“Yeah,” I said as I made my way to the kitchen and leaned on the door jamb. “I figured I’d come over on my day off.”  
  
“Out of clean robes,” Mum said, hitting the spot dead on. Her back was still to me as she continued washing the last few dishes in the sink-filled sudsy water. “I figured as much. Did you get my letter?”  
  
“Misty arrived shortly before,” I said. “It’s what reminded me that I needed to bring my laundry over to wash. I had to scrounge in my wardrobe to find what I’m wearing now.”  
  
“You’re so much like your father, Lou,” Mum said, turning to face him after she had pulled the sink plug. “Both of you are helpless when it comes to household charms.”  
  
“But you still love me otherwise you wouldn’t be taking pity on me to help wash my clothes.”  
  
“That’s because you’ll always be my baby boy,” Mum said, ruffling my red hair as she passed through the doorway to grab the sack I had left on the sofa in the living room.  
  
Flattening my hair, I followed her down into the basement/laundry room and watched as she filled the tub with water and detergent before separating my clothes into piles. I had never understood the laws of separation until I had ruined my whites by washing my orange Chudley Cannons jersey that Michael had given me as a joke one Christmas back when we were fourth years at Hogwarts with my whites. It had been the summer after I had finished my final year. That had been when my Mum had told me that under no circumstance was I to do my own laundry because it had taken her several spells before my whites weren’t an orangey peach colour.  
  
When my colours were washing themselves by magic we went back up to the kitchen and she fixed us some tea and laid out a plate of chocolate chip cookies. You could always count on my mum to have some kind of treat in the house; she was a lot like Nana Molly in that respect. It was kind of funny comparing the two of them because from what I’d heard, it had taken Nana almost a year to really warm up to my mum. My parents always liked telling the story enough times that even I had it memorised. Apparently my Nana warmed up to my mum when Mum didn’t back away in disgust when she saw my dad’s face shredded after Fenir Greyback had attacked him (while still in human form, no less, which was why Dad didn’t shift).  
  
“Have you spoken to your sisters lately?”  
  
“No,” I said. “Should I have?”  
  
Usually when my mum brought up my sisters in conversation it meant I had missed out on something that had happened in either one of their lives. I wondered what it was that had completely flown over my head this time.  
  
“Well, I shouldn’t say,” Mum said. “It’s really your sister’s news to tell.”  
  
“Victoire or Dom?”  
  
“Victoire,” Mum said. “Or I should say both her and Ted’s news. I’m surprised she didn’t write to you, at the very least, with the news.”  
  
“You know Vic,” I said.  
  
My eldest sister, Victoire, had a tendency of being forgetful when it came to sending out letters. Ted had been the one in charge of distributing the wedding invitations a couple years ago before they had gotten married. Bit funny since Dom was the one you’d think would have the most trouble with keeping in touch since she tended to be on the ditzy side. Of course I mean ditzy in the best possible way. I loved both my sisters after all, no matter their faults. They’ve put up with enough of my own faults that I had to put up with theirs. We were as close as siblings could be without it getting weird… well, at least not much.  
  
“Of course,” Mum said. “Well, I’ll let her tell you herself then.”  
  
“Then that means I have to actually wait for whatever news it is.”  
  
“Well, I’m sorry, Lou, but it’s not my news to tell.”  
  
I sighed; of course my mum would string me along to wind up telling me she wouldn’t say anything. She loved winding anyone of us up, only to let us go instead of telling us what had happened. I guess that was where I got my distaste for gossip from since my mum despised the spreading of rumours of any kind.  
  
It wasn’t for another couple hours that all my clothes were washed and dried. And by then I only had enough time to stop back at my flat to toss the sack of neatly folded robes on my bed before Disapparating to the Leaky to meet up with Brody and Michael. They were both already sitting at a booth when I got there and I sat down on the bench next to Michael. There were already two drinks resting on the table, sweat rings around the bottom of each, as Brody raised a hand to wave the waitress over.  
  
I looked over at the bar to see that Hannah Longbottom was serving a few wizards sitting on the stools. The Longbottoms were family friends. I usually said hi when I was in the Leaky, but it would have to wait until we left since she was busy enough juggling multiple drink orders.  
  
“Is this the last of your party,” the waitress said when she had arrived at the end of our booth. “What can I get you?” she asked me after Brody had nodded.  
  
“Just a butterbeer, thanks,” I said. “I have to be at work early tomorrow.”  
  
“He’s kidding,” Michael said. “He’ll take a firewhiskey.”  
  
“We’re celebrating,” Brody reminded me. “Remember.”  
  
“Ooh, what are we celebrating?” the waitress asked.  
  
“I got offered a promotion at work,” I said. “It’s no big deal, honest.”  
  
I hadn’t seen the waitress before so I assumed she was relatively new, but who am I to judge since it had been months since I had last been at the Leaky. Either way, I didn’t really like sharing my personal business with strangers. I barely opened up as it was with my friends.  
  
“Well, then, a firewhiskey on the house it is,” the waitress said, bustling off to the bar to put in the drink order.  
  
“If I’m hungover tomorrow I’m blaming you two.”  
  
Surprisingly my friends didn’t push me to drink anymore after I finished the first firewhiskey so I was able to walk out of the Leaky on my own. I had paused at the bar long enough to chat with Hannah briefly before Disapparating back to the flat. Both Michael and Brody had had a few drinks each so I had to take them side-along with me because that was what a good friend did when his mates got too wasted to concentrate on an exact destination to Apparate to. After I had shoved each of them into their rooms I went into mine and set the alarm on my wand seconds before collapsing into my bed. I didn’t even both crawling under the bunched up sheets before I was out like a light.


	3. Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “She really is like her mother.”
> 
> “You’re comparing the woman of your dreams to her mother,” I said. “There is so much wrong with that.”
> 
> “Oh, shut it,” Frank said, though his face had turned as red as a Quaffle.

Chapter 3

Attack

#

The alarm screeched into my ear the following morning. It was not melodious in the slightest. At least all of my healer robes were clean now, though. That was the only good thing about today. I squinted at my watch, using the little bit of silvery light coming in through my bedroom window. It should have been a crime to wake up when the moon was still at its peak. What were the chances anything disastrous ever happened at three o’clock in the morning? Slim chances, my friend, very slim indeed.  
  
Cursing at having to wake up at such an ungodly hour, I stumbled in the near darkness to the bathroom. Maybe a shower would wake me up. If not then there was always coffee. I had never been a fan of coffee, still wasn’t, but it really was some kind of magic. Well, not technically, but you get the picture. It woke me up.  
  
Forty minutes later and I was wearing the hideous lime green healer robes that clashed with my red hair and probably not in a good way either. But who am I to try to pretend I knew anything about fashion.  
  
That said, I poured myself a cuppa and floo’d into work instead of Apparating since my friends were still sleeping off all the alcohol they had consumed at the Leaky. It was impressive how those two could still drink themselves shitfaced on work nights. I always felt more haggard each time I got drunk, and I’m not even in my mid-twenties yet. Twenty-three isn’t that old, is it? I don’t feel old, I mean I normally don’t. I did that morning, but that was because I hadn’t gotten much sleep in the past week or month. Okay, so I couldn’t exactly remember the last decent night’s sleep I’ve had. What healer keeps track of their sleep hours anyway?  
  
“Louis, just the healer I was looking for,” my supervisor, Healer Newman, said the moment I stepped out of the fireplace in the staff room, brushing ash from my robes in the process. “I need your assistance in the ER pronto.” And with that said, Newman promptly marched out of the staffroom, clearly expecting me to follow so I did. He was my supervisor after all; if I wanted a good report after my supervision was over then I had to do whatever he told me to do. If he told me to jump off the roof of St. Mungo’s then I’d have no choice but to leap. Okay, maybe not, but you get the point. I had to listen to him.  
  
“So, what’s the deal?” I asked, matching my pace with his.  
  
“There was another attack that occurred around a few hours ago,” Healer Newman said. “Apparently the family was camping, celebrating the end of summer before the older kids went back to Hogwarts. Well, the youngest, a six-year-old boy, wandered out of the tent he was sharing with his siblings after they had fallen to sleep. Bottom line, a werewolf attacked him and he was found just feet from the family’s camping site.”  
  
“But that would mean that the werewolf had been lurking right next to the site,” I said.  
  
“Exactly,” Healer Newman said briskly. “Which makes it look like it was planned.”  
  
We reached the ER on the Dai Llewellyn ward and I follow Thomas through the swinging doors. The sight I’m faced with catches me off guard, causing me to stumble back a few steps. The mattress of the gurney was covered in the child’s blood from the fresh, open wounds; those four claw marks, glistening red, made it real and I threw myself into action. However, I was unsure of what exactly to do. I haven’t helped out on any of the previous attacks before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but now that I’m staring it in the face I’m not sure I could do this. It was too much seeing that child laying limply on that gurney as a team of healers roamed around him with their wands raised; potions and medical supplies sitting on a table nearby.  
  
“Grab that ointment over there, Louis,” Thomas said, seemingly unfazed as he took a seat on a swivelling stool beside Thomas. “The wound needs cleaning before it can be sealed.”  
  
I swallowed as I rolled over to the table and grabbed the ointment. Returning back to the gurney, I handed Thomas the ointment.  
  
I still don’t know how I managed to assist Thomas and keep it together, but I did. It was a couple hours later when I found myself standing next to Thomas before the boy’s grief-stricken parents.  
  
“He’s sleeping now,” Healer Newman said. “You’re more than welcome to go and see him. We’re hoping he’ll wake up within the next several hours at the most. Until then we can’t give him anymore potions for pain and healing.”  
  
When the boy’s parents left us standing in the hallway to go check on their sleeping son, Thomas looked straight at me expectantly. All I could do was stare back blankly.  
  
“I need you to speak with the _Daily Prophet_ reporter that’s waiting downstairs in the lobby,” Thomas said, “Also, any other reporter that has decided to show up while we were treating the boy.”  
  
“Why don’t you just hold a press conference?”  
  
“Can’t, I have to speak with a couple people from the Werewolf Control Unit branch of the Department and Control of Magical Creatures.”  
  
“But why can’t you get another healer that’s spoken to reporters do it?”  
  
“Louis, it’s not that hard,” Thomas said. “All I need you to do is tell them the facts: a boy was brought in after being bitten by a werewolf and that his condition is stabilized. You’re great at healing, but you need to work on your communicative skills. Don’t make this into more than it already is, okay.”  
  
“But what if they want more information?”  
  
“Then tell them flat out that that’s all the information that we have for them as of now,” Thomas said. “And it’s the truth, too.”  
  
Feeling that I was definitely not getting out of this, I headed off down the hall and rode the lift down to the main lobby. Instead of announcing my presence by calling any reporters that happened to be waiting, I headed over to the Welcome Witch’s desk where Shelby had just hung up the phone. Hopefully asking Shelby to point me in the direction of the _Prophet_ reporter wouldn’t flag any extra attention.  
  
“Louis,” Shelby said, smiling. “It’s been a while. I don’t usually see you on the main floor. Are you just getting in?”  
  
I checked my watch before looking back up at her. “I’ve been here for a couple of hours.”  
  
“Ah, how’ve you been?”  
  
I had always felt awkward talking to Shelby since we had dated back in my first year of healer training. Shelby was only a couple years older than me and had once dreamed of being a healer, too, but she wasn’t ambitious. Working as a secretary seemed to be enough for her. We hadn’t lasted long, either. Let’s just say our relationship had been more like a fling that had fizzled away to nothing; like the fizz of a soda pop.  
  
“Alright,” I said. “Look, Shelby, I’m only down here to speak with that _Prophet_ reporter. Do you think you could point me to where he’s at?”  
  
Shelby frowned, clearly hurt by my bluntness. I felt bad but I had a job to do.  
  
“Right, of course that’s why you’re down here,” Shelby said, clearing her throat. “Well, there are actually a few more reporters that have shown up since and they’re all sitting over there.” I looked to where Shelby was pointing. “Good luck talking to them.”  
  
I swallowed as I headed back toward the lobby waiting area. I had never been good when it came to public speaking. The moment I stepped into the centre of the lobby where they’re all waiting, I’m ambushed as they quickly spring forth from the stiff chairs they had been sitting in. I also noticed my cousin, Lily, among the reporters; she works as a writer for _Wizards Weekly_ magazine. The moment she recognised me she started elbowing her way through the crowd of reporters; being petite is definitely not a disadvantage for her as she learned quick growing up with two brothers like James and Albus.  
  
“Louis,” Lily said. She was all business. “How’s the boy? Is he infected?”  
  
“Of course he’s infected,” I replied, somewhat shortly. “He was bitten by a werewolf. Come on, Lily, I know you’re smarter than that.”  
  
Lily rolled her eyes. “Alright then, how is he doing? And is this at any way connected to the other werewolf attacks on children that have taken place in the past few months?”  
  
Louis sighed as he turned from her to address all the reporters at once.  
  
“The boy, named Jonah O’Malley, is stable right now,” I said, using the healer voice that I was taught in training to deliver any type of news. It was always good to keep yourself separate from the patients to avoid becoming personally involved. “He’s sleeping and only his family is permitted to visit him.”  
  
“What about in the afternoon or evening?” a reporter near the back asked.  
  
“I can’t say exactly whether Jonah will be stable enough to answer questions, especially since he’s only six,” Louis said. “However, I can tell you that he may not be able to see any visitors outside of his immediate family in, at most, a couple weeks. We, his healers, need to ensure that he is responding positively to treatments.”  
  
“What sort of treatments are you providing?”  
  
I frowned momentarily before recovering. “Jonah is receiving the standard treatment that we provide for all of our patients who have been bitten by werewolves as per our protocol in dealing with these types of medical issues. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really must get back to my rounds.”  
  
There was the beginnings of what I associated with white noise starting among the small cluster of reporters as they all began talking at once, but I don’t stick around to listen to any of it. I had a job to do. In fact, I needed to find Thomas and give him my acceptance of the promotion he had offered me a couple days ago. I couldn’t stand not knowing why all these children were being targeted. I needed to help.  
  
Of course, as every healer knows, it was hard to find a fellow healer when you were looking for them. That said it was hours before I saw Thomas again. I went about my rounds for the morning and when I went up to check on Jonah at one o’clock it was to discover the boy awake. Thomas was waving his wand over the boy as he checked on the Jonah’s vitals.  
  
“There you are,” I said, coming to a stop at the foot of the bed. “I’ve been looking for you all morning.”  
  
Thomas doesn’t even look up from the coloured sparks and smoke emitting from his wand as he ran the diagnostic tests before picking up the clipboard to record the results. “I’ve been in conferences all morning. How’d the press conference with the reporters go?”  
  
“Alright I suppose,” I said. “They wanted more information.”  
  
“That’s reporters for you,” Thomas said. “They’re never satisfied with what you do tell them.”  
  
“I also wanted to talk to you about that, uh, promotion you offered me.”  
  
For the first time since I’d walked into the room Thomas actually looked up at me. If I had known that would have gotten his attention then I would have gotten straight to the point. But I digress. The point was that I had his full and undivided attention now. Even Jonah was watching me with big, blue eyes that seemed to be able to pierce right through your soul; it left an ache in my heart for the boy because his life would no longer be the same. Looking at the smallness of Jonah in that adult-sized hospital bed only solidified my decision.  
  
“I wanted to accept it.”  
  
“That’s great,” Thomas said. “I’ll take you up to meet the team you’ll be working with after lunch.”  
  
“Will you be taking a break today, then?”  
  
Normally Thomas ate in his office over a stack of paperwork. He wasn’t that old, probably in his early to mid-thirties, but he was moving quickly up in the ranks. I could only hope to be as lucky as to gain the type of renowned that Thomas had by the time I reached my thirties.  
  
“Just a quick one in my office,” Thomas said, hanging the clipboard back at the end of the bed. “Gretchen came up a few hours ago to tell the Head Healer to make sure I actually took a break to eat all of the lunch she packed me today.” Gretchen was his fiancée. “If I don’t take ten minutes to eat then she’ll fuss. I don’t know how she knows when I don’t eat, but she does.”  
  
“Maybe she charms your lunches?” I said, but within a couple seconds Thomas and I were laughing at the silliness of the suggestion. Later I would discover that Gretchen actually does charm Thomas’s lunches to let her know whether he eats or not, but that wouldn’t be until after they were married. But all we could do now was laugh at the obscure possibility of Gretchen charming his lunches.  
  
After leaving Jonah’s room, I made one last stop on the children’s floor before lunch to run afternoon vital checks. Then, while riding the elevator down to the underground floor where the cafeteria, staff room, and some of the head healers’ offices were, I ran into Frank Longbottom II.  
  
Frank had finished Hogwarts the year after I had, with my cousins Lily and Hugo. His parents, Neville and Hannah, were family friends and that resulted in us seeing a lot of each other growing up. Of course we hadn’t really hung out at school since we were in different years, but we had become closer friends since he started his healer training the year after I had started mine. We had obviously been in different training courses, but we had still been able to relate a lot more since we were going through the same thing. In fact, had I not become closer friends with Frank then I never would have found out how he felt about Lily. Of course he still hadn’t told her for fear that it would ruin their friendship, but I still knew. I had encouraged him to tell her that he liked her initially, but he hadn’t and now Lily was going out with Lysander; those two had literally been going out off and on since the end of their fourth year. Honestly, I didn’t know why they continued to get back together when their break-ups were often messy. But I was staying out of it. It was Frank’s job to pick Lily back up at the end of each of their break-ups, or rather he had made it his job.  
  
“Guess who I saw earlier,” I told him as the lift door slid shut behind him and descended.  
  
“I give up, who?”  
  
“My cousin,” I said.  
  
“That tells me so much,” Frank said. “You have a ton of cousins; it could have been anyone of them.”  
  
“Point taken,” I said. “It was Lily. She was here on behalf of _Wizards Weekly_ for more information on the boy, Jonah O’Malley, who had been bitten last night.”  
  
“She really is like her mother.”  
  
“You’re comparing the woman of your dreams to her mother,” I said. “There is so much wrong with that.”  
  
“Oh, shut it,” Frank said, though his face had turned as red as a Quaffle.  
  
The lift jolted to a stop, they really needed to inspect it, and the doors slid open to reveal the bright florescent lighting that was a contrast to the dimness due to the single light bulb that was inside of the lift. I headed down the hall to the cafeteria with Frank. Over lunch I told him about the research position that I was being promoted to and how Thomas was going to introduce me to the team later. Frank was still in his last year of training and then he would have to fulfil his supervision hours. I remembered all too well how rough that final year of training was. After lunch we headed back to our posts, his to the training room and mine to the Accidental Spell Damage floor. I always spent a few hours in Accidental Spell Damage in the latter half of my shifts. But the only thing on my mind was that I was going to get to meet the research team on the werewolf case. I was actually going to be working with them. I couldn’t believe my luck, yet I could. I had worked hard to earn this.


	4. Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Remus, buddy,” I said, lifting him effortlessly and tossing him up and catching him as though he were a sack of potatoes. “How’ve you been?”
> 
> “Gweat,” Remus lisped, giggling.
> 
> “I really wish you wouldn’t do that.”

Chapter 4

Doubt

#

I don’t see Thomas again for the rest of my shift so I ended up riding the lift up to the top floor where all the higher-ups have offices, and it was also where all the research facilities were located. He had told me that he was going to introduce me to the team and that was exactly what he was going to do before I left. I’m not exactly sure whether he would actually be in his office, though it was worth a shot.  
  
I knocked on the closed door with my knuckles and waited.  
  
“It’s open.”  
  
I opened the door to find my supervisor sitting at his desk filling out paperwork. The first thing I noticed the closer I got was my name at the top of the page. Then I remembered. I’d finished the last of my supervising hours during this shift. I’d been counting down until my supervision was over and when it finally was I’m caught off guard because it was no longer the number one thing I was looking forward to.  
  
“I’m just finishing up your paperwork,” Thomas said. “You’ll be reporting to Healer Nadine Fuller for your assigned rounds from now on as she’ll be making your schedules. Though, since you’ll be spending the bulk of your time in research as well, you’ll still be reporting to me since I’m head of research.”  
  
“Cool,” I said as I sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Are you still going to introduce me to the team before I leave?”  
  
“What time is it?” Thomas asked, looking down at his watch before standing. “I had no idea it had gotten this late. I’ve been filling out paperwork for a few hours now. Come on, I’ll take you to meet the team now.”  
  
I followed Thomas down the hall around a corridor and then another corridor before we finally reached the research lab that I’d be working in. There were three people diligently working when we entered; one was sitting at a telescope, examining a sample, another was working on a potion, and the final was writing faster than I’d ever seen anyone scrawl with a quill. The room was also vaster than I thought it would be with several chrome lab tables with drawers and various instruments, parchment, ink, and quills on top of each. However, there were a couple tables that were void of anything, as if they had yet to be claimed by an owner.  
  
“Looks like you’ll only get to meet three today,” Thomas said to me before turning to address the three healers that were hard at work. “Could I have a bit of your time? I have someone I want you all to meet since he’ll be working with you, starting next week.”  
  
“We told you, Thomas, we don’t need any help,” a Witch replied. “We’ve got it under control.”  
  
“Really,” Thomas said, “because the results say otherwise.”  
  
“Well, we haven’t exactly been given a lot to work with, have we?”  
  
Thomas didn’t dignify that comment with a response. “This is Louis Weasley. He’ll be working with you on tracking down the werewolf, or werewolves, that are attacking these children. Louis, meet three of your fellow researchers: the snarky blond Witch is Miranda, the wizard with ink on his nose is Quentin, and the Asian concocting up something sweet is Will.”  
  
All but Miranda acknowledged me with a curt nod before continuing with their work. I suspected I would be toeing the line around her while I settled into the research. She was clearly the oldest, probably in her forties. I was rubbish at deciphering ages, though.  
  
“Don’t mind Miranda,” Thomas said in an undertone, though still obvious. “It’s just always her time of the month.”  
  
Miranda glared at him, making it clear that she had heard him and heartily disapproved.  
  
“You’ll be the youngest researcher on this case,” Thomas said, elaborating. “There are a few others who are closer to your age, though they’re all in their late twenties.”  
  
“Which are all the researchers who dined to leave instead of staying overtime today,” Miranda said, clucking her tongue the way a scolding mother would. “Honestly, Thomas, you should be bringing in healers who are older and don’t mind putting in extra hours.”  
  
“I’ll choose who I want on the team, thanks though,” Thomas said. “Louis will be a great addition, plus he doesn’t have a life so he’ll be able to work overtime.”  
  
“Uh, thanks for that,” I said. “At least I think there was a compliment in there somewhere.”  
  
“Great, we’ve got another Thomas on our hands.”  
  
“Where’d you find your prodigy?” Will asked as he stirred the potion.  
  
“I supervised him after he finished his training,” Thomas said. “He just finished his supervision today.”  
  
“So you mean to tell us,” Quentin said, quill froze above the parchment, “that not only are you assigning an extra healer to our team, but you’re also assigning a complete novice healer to our team.”  
  
“Come on, Quentin,” Thomas said, blowing out a frustrated breath. “You know I wouldn’t assign him to this team if I didn’t believe he couldn’t help the case.”  
  
“Yeah, I suppose,” Quentin said. “But don’t expect any of us to baby him.”  
  
I felt insignificant. They all were acting as though I had absolutely no experience. And I guess they were right that I hadn’t done any lab research before but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t capable. I had gone through all my training and completed my hours of supervision. I was ready to be a fully qualified healer. More importantly, I was ready to be treated like a healer instead of some trainee. I had paid my dues. Or so I’d thought then, though the reality was that it took a lot longer than training/supervision to gain proper respect from your colleagues. I had a lot of learning and growing up ahead of me.  
  
“Don’t worry about him still being fresh out of training,” Thomas said. “He’ll learn as he goes. If he has any questions he can always come to me with them, though he shouldn’t have to since you’re all supposed to be a team and that means you work together.”  
  
“You know what I mean,” Quentin said. “I have enough on my plate without having to show someone what to do.”  
  
“I repeat: he’ll be fine.”  
  
Somehow I doubted I’d be fine. I mean, I’m positive I could do the work, but as far as these three were concerned... well, let’s just say that I could feel the tension knotting in the back of my neck at the mere thought of conflict.  
  
I was no stranger to conflict, but that didn’t mean I particularly enjoyed it. Brody had always joked by saying I should have been a Hufflepuff for all the times I did something another way just to avoid a conflict. I had been a Gryffindor, by the way. In fact, I’d actually followed in my father’s footsteps and ended up a Prefect and later Head Boy in my final year. Yeah, I suppose I was a bit of a brown-noser who hated conflict, but in my defence I was a smart brown-noser.  
  
“I should get going,” I said because it was true. “I’m supposed to meet up with my flatmates tonight.”  
  
“See, already ducking out early,” Miranda commented with a sideways glance in my direction before going back to her tissue sample.  
  
“He actually won’t be starting until the next shift week,” Thomas said, but I wished he wouldn’t. It’s not like it would change how any of them felt about me coming in after they had done so much work together without me.  
  
I actually felt like I was forcing myself into an exclusive group that I wasn’t old enough to join. I knew I should feel like I belonged, but it didn’t. I felt like an imposter trespassing on all of their hard work.  
  
#  
  
I only ended up staying out for a couple hours with Brody and Michael before coming home to crash in my bed. I had to be back at the hospital at four in the morning and it had been pushing half after eleven by the time I decided to call it a night. Brody and Michael might be able to get by with little sleep, but I couldn’t. I would be rubbish if I hadn’t managed to get at least a few hours.  
  
The shift was pretty uneventful compared to the previous day. All I did was spend it in the Accidental Spell Damage ward and I didn’t see Thomas at all since I had completed my supervision hours yesterday. All in all it was a dull day and by the time I was punching out to leave, I could feel my energy draining from lack of sleep. But I couldn’t go home.  
  
My parents had scheduled a family dinner for us to catch up on our lives. Thus I would be the only single person at dinner tonight, not counting my little nephew. It made me feel like an extra wheel that wasn’t needed in my family when I knew that wasn’t true. It was just how I felt at times.  
  
But I still arrived at shell cottage like I had told my parents I would by half after seven. Everyone was already there, waiting for me to start dinner. I had to brace myself because I knew my nephew would run at my legs and sure enough I felt his small body colliding smack into me, hugging my shins.  
  
“Remus, buddy,” I said, lifting him effortlessly and tossing him up and catching him as though he were a sack of potatoes. “How’ve you been?”  
  
“Gweat,” Remus lisped, giggling.  
  
“I really wish you wouldn’t do that,” Victoire said, appearing in the entry way of the kitchen.  
  
I laughed. “Come on, Vic, you know I won’t drop him.”  
  
“You can’t be sure,” Victoire said. “Accidents happen all the time and he’s only three.”  
  
I turned my attention to the smiling toddler in my arms. “What do you think, Remmy? Should I stop throwing you up high?”  
  
He shook his head.  
  
“Well that settles it, then.” And as if to make my point, I tossed Remus up before catching him in my arms again.  
  
“Louis,” Victoire said.  
  
Man, she sure had that mum stance down.  
  
“Alright, no more tossing the kid around,” I said, but when she turned around I muttered under my breath, causing Remus to giggle behind one of his small hands, “Whenever your mummy is within sight.”  
  
Dinner was a celebration of sorts in honour of Teddy and Victoire’s news that was announced before dessert was served: Victoire was pregnant again. The table was abuzz with mindless chatter to fill the silence with, yet anyone could tell how nervous Victoire was about being pregnant again as she worried at her bottom lip every so often. I understood where her worry came from since it was clear she hoped that this child would not be born with lycanthropy like Remus had been. And could anyone blame her, really? It wasn’t right that Remus had to turn into a werewolf once a month; he had done nothing to deserve this fate. He was just a child for crying out loud.  
  
Then Dom announced that she and Braden had gotten engaged last week, eliminating the heaviness at the table with this unexpected news. I barely knew Braden enough to be happy at their engagement. Sure she had dated him for a couple years, but Dom and Braden moved from city to city so often that I barely ever saw them.  
  
After dinner it seemed it was my turn to be interrogated as my dad turned his attention toward me.  
  
“So, how’s the hospital, Louis?”  
  
I had been dosing off while everyone else caught up after dinner in the den. But when my father addressed me I jolted to attention so suddenly that my knee crashed with the corner of the coffee table. Cursing, I rubbed it as I looked over at where my dad sat perched in his armchair; my sisters and I used to fight over who got to sit in that chair when he was at work. The memories hit me harder than I thought and it took a moment to push them aside.  
  
“They’re still working you those horridly long shifts, aren’t they,” Victoire interrupted. “I hope you aren’t going out every night you’re off with those mates of yours.”  
  
It had always been clear to me that Victoire disapproved of my friends, mainly because she had caught Brody peeping on her from a tree outside of her bedroom window when he had stayed over for a week the summer before fourth year. But honestly, it wasn’t that big of a deal.  
  
“Yes, I’ve been working long hours,” I said, choosing to only answer her first statement before turning back to answer dad. “Things at the hospital have been – what’s the right word – hectic what with all these werewolf attacks in the past few months.”  
  
“How’s your training hours going?” my dad asked.  
  
“Just finished the other day, actually,” I said smugly. “And I’ve been assigned to work with the team of healers researching the evidence left over from the werewolf attacks.”  
  
“Will you still do rounds like a regular healer?”  
  
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll just be scheduled hours for researching on top of regular shifts.”  
  
His mum worried over me. “But wouldn’t that suck up any free time that you have? You already barely have the time to sleep and eat as it is.”  
  
“I’ll be fine, mum,” I said. “Honest.”  
  
“Promise us that you won’t let your work consume you,” my dad said. “You should be having fun while you’re still young instead of working all the time.”  
  
I promised, but only to get my parents off my back. The day I request to be scheduled fewer hours each week will be the day I retire; in other words, years and years to come. I loved my job and was getting blimey good at it. Though, my dad made an excellent point and I would try to make more of an effort to go out with Brody and Mike whenever they tried to pull me out for the night. I had left the flat a couple times that week with them and that was more than usual. Now that I’m a fully qualified healer and on my own at work I can allow myself to have more fun. But somehow I doubted I would be having fun anytime soon; I had to prove myself to the rest of the team I would be working with to find a definitive match to the culprit that was biting these children.  
  
“I can tell just looking at you that you have no intention of lightening your workload,” my mother said. She knew me so well. “Just promise that you’ll get enough sleep, and don’t you dare skip any meals, mister.” My Mum still had a bit of a French accent, but it had mostly melted away over the years of living on the English coast. Apparently it had been worse when she had first started learning English, but now she sounded more English than French. “If I don’t hear from you at least twice a week, then I’ll start showing up at the hospital with meals on a daily basis.”  
  
She would do it, I knew she would. There was no doubting my mother; when she said something it became law with my family. It would be irrefutable to argue with her.  
  
Meanwhile my sisters were laughing at me being scolded like a child by our Mum. They should have been my sounding board of support, but not my sisters. My sisters had too much fun poking jokingly at me to back me up. So instead I shot a helpless look over toward my Dad in the hopes that he might talk my Mum out of her threat, but all he did was shrug his shoulders and make a face that clearly said that there was nothing we could do to change her mind. They were all cowards, the whole lot of them. The only person who ever dared go up against Mum was Nana Molly and that was only because Mum stepped down anytime we went over there. Nana Molly was the only person that my Mum let call the shots, and together those two were merciless. A perfect team. Kind of funny since Dad had once told us that there had been a time when Nana couldn’t stand Mum, but when I asked Nana more about it she just brushed my questions off.  
  
“Fine, I can tell I’m not winning here,” I said. “I think I’ll go back to my flat. It’s getting pretty late and I have to be back at the hospital early tomorrow.”  
  
“Alright, but I expect to see you sometime next week,” my Mum said. “I don’t want you waiting weeks until bringing your laundry over anymore. I’ll bet you wore some of your robes more than a couple times before you came over a few days ago.”  
  
“Fine, I’ll try,” I said. “I won’t have my schedule for next week until Sunday.”  
  
Feeling I had been bullied enough by my mother for one night, I said good night to my family and started to leave. But just as I had reached the hall I felt something tackle my legs from behind and discovered Remus’s smiling face when I looked down. He really was the coolest kid. I wondered where he got that awesome from since his parents were pretty big dorks. Kidding, or am I? I reached down and tossed him up a couple more times before setting him down again.  
  
“You take care of yourself, little man,” I said, bending down to his level and meaning it. Every time I looked into Remus’s young eyes I saw all the pain that he went through. It tore at my heart each time.  
  
“I will,” Remus said, “as long as you pwomise to come over mowre.”  
  
“Deal,” I said before standing up, nooging his head ever so lightly, and leaving.  
  
I wasted no time at all to collapse into bed when I arrived back at the flat. It was dark and quiet as I walked through the short hallway to my bedroom, which led me to assume that my friends were either out again or sleeping. Knowing my friends, I was willing to bet that they weren’t in their beds since it was only nine o’clock, which meant they were probably at the Leaky or one of the hot new Wizards’ night clubs that had sprung up recently. But I didn’t care about that. All that mattered to me right then was sleep and sleep I did, right up until my wand woke me up early the next morning. Tomorrow would be a new day filled with healing and a day closer to next week when I would have to begin to prove myself to my new research mates. Somehow it made me wish that there were still timeturners so that I could reverse time as long as I needed to ensure I was ready before facing anyone who would doubt my ability as a healer.


	5. Official

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I guess that was changing now that I was on my own. God, I just couldn’t think that enough times and get used to it. I was an official healer now. I even had a new ID badge and everything, plus it was laminated. LAMINATED, blimey, guess that meant I was really growing up.

Chapter 5

Official

#

When most people think of the weekend the thought of relaxation and time away from the office often came to mind. Exception: healers. I rarely ever got a weekend to myself and that past weekend was no exception. I was still scheduled to work those shifts alongside Thomas, but technically I no longer needed him to supervise me. Therefore it acted as a bit of a trial period since Thomas basically left me to my own devices. He still made himself readily available if I had any questions, but aside from that I was completely on my own and for the first time I truly felt like a real healer.  
  
And when the schedules were posted in Human Resources on Sunday I felt like whooping with total abandon at the top of my lungs. Okay, maybe that was taking my excitement a bit too far, but you get it: I was happy.  
  
I didn’t even care that I had a shift in the Dai Llewellyn ward that week. All that mattered was that I was completely on my own as a healer. I also had a couple shifts labelled as individual study, which I assumed was the time I was meant to spend in the lab with the team that didn’t want me. That was perhaps the only thing I wasn’t looking forward to. I knew I should have been thrilled and proud of myself, but I couldn’t help the feeling that I was forcing my presence on a group that wouldn’t ever welcome me. It was true that I still hadn’t met any of the rest of the team, but suddenly Tuesday seemed too soon for me to officially join the team.  
  
Since I didn’t have to be into work until eight on Monday evening for my shift on the Accidental Spell Damage floor, I wound up spending the prior day in bed asleep. All my shifts this week were night shifts. Well, except for the two shifts I was scheduled in the lab. It was the opposite of what I was used to. Usually I worked day shifts with the occasional night shift thrown into the mix. I guess that was changing now that I was on my own. God, I just couldn’t think that enough times and get used to it. I was an official healer now. I even had a new ID badge and everything, plus it was laminated. LAMINATED, blimey, guess that meant I was really growing up.  
  
By the time I arrived at work that evening, I was feeling more rested than I had in a while. I could get used to working night shifts if it meant I would actually get sleep since my friends were at work during the weekdays. I punched in and reported to Healer Nadine Fuller before heading to Accidental Spell Damage on the fourth floor. Apparently fully certified Healers had to check in with the Human Resources healer rep at the beginning of each of their shifts. I had only met Healer Fuller briefly when she had spoken to my training class before we started clocking in hours at the hospital. She was an older woman, probably in her sixties, who wore her hair back and had a permanently severe expression on her face. She had scared me then, and she still scared me now. I had heard from other healers that she had a temper when she got angry. I hoped I would never fall victim to one of her verbal lashings.  
  
Healer Fuller stared down at an open manila folder before her, perusing the week’s schedule again no doubt. “Louis Weasley... ah, here you are; Accidental Spell Damage floor for ten hours. I trust,” she said, looking up at him, “that you are ready to handle patients on your own now.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, trying not to sound as scared as I was. “Thomas, err, I mean, Healer Newman told me I was at my best on the fourth floor while he was supervising me.”  
  
“Hmm, that still remains to be unseen since you’re still fresh and have just finished your supervision hours,” Healer Fuller said. “But I did speak with Healer Newman and he did recommend you to the fourth floor. But all healers need to be versatile on all floors, not just one floor, when they’re starting out before they’ve gained seniority and can narrow down to a specialized area of study.”  
  
My voice caught and I wasn’t sure if it was because I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to respond or not, or if I was afraid of the anal woman before me.  
  
“Of course, you seem to be on a faster track than most, Healer Weasley,” Healer Fuller said. “You’re already assigned to conduct specialized research. I only hope you don’t ruin any of the previous research that has been found by the team. You’ll need to ease into the research since there’s already quite a bit of material that’s been massed together these past few months.”  
  
I nodded. It felt weird to be addressed as a healer by a woman that seemed to be insulting me. She didn’t come right out with it, but I knew she thought I was too young and naive to be on a research team. Here was yet another person I had to prove myself to; the list just kept growing.  
  
“Do you have any further questions?”  
  
I thought for a moment. “Not that I can think of.”  
  
“Then you’re free to head to the fourth floor now,” Healer Fuller said. “Just know,” she added, causing me to turn back around at the door, “that I have eyes all over this hospital and if you even make one tiny mistake, I’ll find out about it.”  
  
Swallowing back the lump that had formed in my throat, I nodded. I rode the lifts down to the fourth floor after leaving Healer Fuller’s office and the moment I stepped out into the hall I was ambushed by a healer.  
  
“It’s about time,” the witch said, clearly agitated. “I was supposed to be off twenty minutes ago. You are Healer Weasley, right?”  
  
“That’s me,” I said.  
  
“Good, then all you have to do is find Healer Matthews and he’ll fill you in on the part of the ward you’re assigned to because I’m leaving. Word of advice for next time before I go, don’t be late.”  
  
I wasn’t able to get another word out before the lift doors slid closed, shutting her out of my vision. I would feel bad, but it was hard to feel remorse for someone that had brushed me off as if I were a mere speck of dust. I knew how tiring it felt at the end of a shift, but that was still no excuse.  
  
“Ah, Healer Weasley,” Healer Matthews said, coming up to stand in front of me. “Let me guess, got held up in Healer Fuller’s office?”  
  
I nodded. It seemed like I was doing a helluva a lot of nodding already and I wasn’t even thirty minutes into my shift yet.  
  
“Did you already run into Healer Short?”  
  
I scrunched my brow. “Sorry, not sure I know who that is.”  
  
“Short, blond witch with a fiery attitude,” Healer Matthews said, describing the witch that had pounced when I had stepped out of the lift. “You’re her relieve.”  
  
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “She ran out of here pretty fast.”  
  
“That’s because she has a blind date tonight,” Healer Matthews said, smirking. “Her parents are on her to find a bloke and its stressing her out, but don’t tell her I told you.”  
  
I mimed zipping my lips shut.  
  
“Alright, so you have the left side of the ward for the night,” Healer Matthews said. “And Healer Jacobson has the right side. If you run into any problems, then I’ll be in my office at the end of the ward. But I’m sure you’ll be fine.”  
  
Yep, you’ve guessed it. I had worked with Healer Matthews before because he and Thomas were friends. Therefore he knew how good I was on this floor in particular. I had already proved myself capable in his eyes and I was glad he was overseeing the fourth floor that night.  
  
Things were pretty quiet on the fourth floor. I did wait on a few patients, but I mostly spent my hours in the staff room that separated the left ward from the right. There wasn’t anything special about the staff rooms that were located on each floor; they were just there for us lower-ranked healers that didn’t have their own offices to spend down time in. In fact, I ended up being paged up to the Dai Llewellyn ward toward the end of my shift at half after four in the morning since there was only one healer manning that whole ward by themselves and they were currently on break when one of the patients buzzed in for assistance. It wasn’t until I had reached the room that I realised it had been Jonah who had buzzed.  
  
Sure, I liked to think that I was good with kids, but I still had the image of Jonah sprawled out on that gurney, covered in blood, the night he had been brought in burned into my mind. Taking a deep breath before pushing it to the back of my mind, I entered the room to find him sitting up in bed with tear tracks on his fair, rosy cheeks that still had a bit of baby fat. I pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down on it backwards, resting my arms on the back.  
  
“What are you doing up this early, little buddy,” I said, choosing a more laidback approach versus the professional way I handled the older patients. I wanted to make sure Jonah was comfortable around me enough to tell me what the matter was before diving into healer mode. He was just a kid after all. I knew from Victoire that Remus was fussy when he had to go in for check-ups after his transformations, so I assumed Jonah might feel uneasy around healers, too. Plus, I could remember feeling insecure toward healers when I had to come in for regular check-ups when I had been his age.  
  
“I miss my mummy and daddy,” Jonah sniffled.  
  
“Ah, well I’m sure they’ll visit later today,” I said since the kid’s parents were, for the most part, usually with him. “Visiting hours start within the next few of hours.”  
  
“But they won’t be coming today,” Jonah said. “It’s September first, which means they have to take my brother and sister to Kings Cross to catch the train to Hogwarts. They’ll be too busy to visit.”  
  
“Nonsense,” I said. “I’m sure they’ll come after dropping them off.”  
  
“No they won’t.”  
  
The way the kid’s eyes looked big and watery was snagging at my heartstrings. “How can you be so sure?”  
  
“Because my mummy told me so,” Jonah said, sounding much too serious for a six-year-old.  
  
“Well, how about I stay with you for the rest of my shift,” I said. “That way you won’t be alone. I could go get a pack of Exploding Snap from the rec room and we could build a card castle out of it until it blows up.”  
  
I could tell that I had piqued the kid’s interest by the way the corner of his mouth perked slightly upward as he wiped the tears from his shiny, brown eyes.  
  
“I’ll be right back.”  
  
It took me several minutes after reaching the rec room to locate a deck of Exploding Snap cards, but when I did I wasted no time in heading back to Jonah’s room to show him that I hadn’t forgotten about him. For the remaining hour of my shift I spent it sitting on the cold, hard tile of Jonah’s room with him sitting across from me in his robe with an impressive card castle in construction between us.  
  
“I bet you can’t wait until you’re out of St. Mungo’s.”  
  
Jonah nodded. He was perhaps the most serious little boy I had ever come across, and I had seen quite a number of children since I had started healing.  
  
“What would you rather be doing?”  
  
I was trying to break Jonah’s reserve, get him feeling more comfortable and relaxed despite being stuck in the hospital. No kid wanted to spend his days in a hospital.  
  
“I dunno,” Jonah shrugged his small shoulders up before slouching forward again. “I guess flying my broomstick in the backyard. It doesn’t go high, but the speed on it is pretty fast.”  
  
“Sounds great,” I said. “I used to love having flying races with my cousins, even if I never was the best flyer. I may be rubbish, but feeling the wind blow your hair from her forehead is perhaps one of the best feelings.”  
  
“I’m the best flyer,” Jonah informed me. “My daddy says so. He says that I’d make a great seeker when I’m at Hogwarts...” Suddenly Jonah got quiet and I had a suspicion as to why.  
  
“You’ll still be able to go to Hogwarts,” I said. “You do know that, right?”  
  
“Yeah right,” Jonah said. “Who would want me at Hogwarts now that I’m going to turn into a monster?”  
  
“You’re not a monster,” I said. “And I happen to know that Hogwarts has made allowances so that students in similar positions as yours have been able to attend. In fact, my brother-in-law’s Dad had been turned when he was a kid and he was admitted into Hogwarts.”  
  
“Seriously,” Jonah said, and I could tell he was in awe.  
  
“Yeah, seriously,” I said. “My nephew is also a werewolf, too, though he’s only three but the headmaster has already agreed to accept him into Hogwarts when he turns eleven. Hogwarts takes necessary precautions to allow students that need them so that they can attend just like every other young witch or wizard.”  
  
“Will it hurt?”  
  
The topic changed so suddenly that for a second I wasn’t sure what Jonah was referring to. Then I remembered that he hadn’t yet transformed yet. I did the math in my head and realised that there was to be a full moon in sixteen days. Maybe I could talk to Victoire about bringing Remmy up to meet Jonah so that the kid knew he wasn’t alone in this whole ordeal. I had no idea what to say to him, but I had to at least try to ease his thoughts.  
  
“Maybe a little,” I said. “But one of the potions you’re on, Wolfsbane, will make the transformation a lot easier for you.”  
  
“Is there a way to stop the transformation from happening?”  
  
My heart hurt as I shook my head. “’Fraid not, bud. There’s no cure.”  
  
Jonah looked down, hopes deflating all at once. Then, at that precise moment, our card castle decided it was time to explode. We were surrounded by black smoke for several minutes before it all settled and it was a few more until we had finished coughing and sputtering.  
  
“That was wicked,” were the first words out of Jonah’s mouth. “Did you see that explosion? It went WHOOSH all at the same time.” He made an outward motion with his arms to demonstrate and it reminded me of Remmy.  
  
Just then the door pushed the rest of the way open and I turned to see Thomas enter. “I heard the boom from down the hall, what’s going on in here?”  
  
I stood up, helping Jonah stand and get back into bed while I explained to Thomas that we had just been building with Exploding Snap cards. Then he asked me if I knew what time it was, which I suppose was his way of trying to subtly tell me that my shift had ended fifteen minutes ago. I bumped fists with Jonah and told him I’d see him the next day, since you know, I was scheduled to work the Dai Llewellyn ward on Wednesday, and left. I had to head home to catch a bit of sleep before I had to be back that afternoon for my first researching shift. I only hoped that the rest of the team wasn’t as judgmental to my age as Miranda, Will, and Quentin had been.


	6. A Pattern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He looks so young,” Valerie said, though she herself didn’t look all that much older than me. “Since when did they start letting Hogwarts students into the healing program before they graduated?”
> 
> “Excuse me, but I’m 23,” I said, insulted. “I graduated from Hogwarts, top of my class, five years ago.”

Chapter 6

A Pattern

#

I ended up sleeping through the alarm I had set on my wand. I usually didn’t sleep through alarms, but I did that afternoon. I wasn’t late, though. Well, I wasn’t technically late; though I’m sure I didn’t set a good image for myself by being three minutes late. The tension in that lab when I walked in and the other researchers saw me was so thick that I might as well be wading through concrete as I made my way over to the desk that Thomas had told me would be mine, which was barren compared to the other desks in the lab.  
  
“Who’s the new guy?”  
  
I turned at the deep voice, which belonged to this buff guy that you wouldn’t have expected to find in healer robes let alone a research lab.  
  
Before I can open my mouth to introduce myself to the people I hadn’t met last week, though, Miranda cuts in. “Louis Weasley, the healer fresh out of training/supervision that Thomas thinks can help further our research.”  
  
“He looks so young,” Valerie said, though she herself didn’t look all that much older than me. “Since when did they start letting Hogwarts students into the healing program before they graduated?”  
  
“Excuse me, but I’m 23,” I said, insulted. “I graduated from Hogwarts, top of my class, five years ago.”  
  
“Are you sure?” Buff wizard said. “You look like you still haven’t hit puberty, and your voice isn’t very gruff.”  
  
“Ignore them,” a blond witch said, stepping forward and I realised that she was the girl who had yelled at me about arriving late for my shift on the fourth floor last night. I swallowed, not entirely wanting to relive that moment. “They’re just jealous that they’re not on as fast a track as you are.”  
  
“I know you,” I blurted out without thinking.  
  
The blond witch laughed. “No, you don’t know me,” she corrected. “Just because you saw me doesn’t mean you know me. I’m Elsie Short, in charge of the background histories of our patients.”  
  
“Louis Weasley,” I said, feeling dumb for introducing myself after Miranda had just told the whole lab my name. “I’m still not sure exactly what my job here will be.”  
  
“That’s alright,” Elsie said, clearly ignoring the groans from the other healers. “None of us were sure of what we were doing when we first started researching. Our jobs just sort of found each of us once we were briefed on the entirety of the cases that are subjected for further investigation.”  
  
“Well, now I don’t feel quite as inept as I had.”  
  
Elsie laughed. “I’ll introduce you to the others.”  
  
The rest of the healers had gone back to their individual research at their desks while Elsie and I had been exchanging introductions. She started to lead me around from desk to desk, giving me a name of the healer at each and what their focus was on. Aside from Quentin, Miranda, and Will, there were three other healers, not including Elsie and myself: The buff wizard’s name was Ned, which I never would have guessed, but he was apparently the healer whose job it was to make the connections between each of the werewolf attacks on children; then the witch that had said that I looked so young despite looking young herself was Valerie, who I learned from Elsie was 27 and in charge of the political relations side of things in dealing with the press on top of accessing the scene of the crime after an attack happened; and the final was Michael whose job it was to look for similarities in lycanthrope strain types in the hopes of finding the werewolf among those that were registered. Among the whole team, Elsie and Michael seemed to be the only two who didn’t mind my joining them. Or at least Michael at least seemed indifferent to my being there and Elsie was at least being tolerant.  
  
“If you have any questions then just ask,” Elsie said. “If there’s anything that drives any of us crazy it’s a new person who acts like they already know everything. I’ll go get all the research we’ve gathered and connected thus far.”  
  
I went over to my desk and sat down while I waited. Placing both palms on the cool surface of the lab table, causing a shiver to run up my spine, I had a sudden thought of being in over my head.  
  
“Alright, I know there’s a lot in here,” Elsie said, returning with a thick manila folder, “but a lot of it is more speculation than fact. We’re still unable to pinpoint a single match based on the DNA found at each of the crime scenes.”  
  
Maybe that was why I was here, I thought, to find a match.  
  
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” Elsie said. “I have to get back to my current project of finding connections between the most recent victim and the suspects, which are all of the registered werewolves until we find clearer evidence that point us elsewhere.”  
  
For some reason I had been hoping that Elsie would have pulled up a chair and went through the folder with me, but I had no idea why. It’s not like I liked her. I had just met her. But I still felt closer to her than the other healers because she had treated me with respect. Sometimes, like now, I confused myself.  
  
I ended up burying myself in the research before me for the next few hours before I got struck with an idea. The first thing I had started to notice was the pattern of each attack happening every full moon in a different camp site, then I had noticed the distance between each of those campsites. The first had occurred about 20 miles north of London, then the one after that occurred in a campsite ten miles away and the next after that ten miles from the previous and so forth. And there was more as it appeared that whoever was staging these attacks was travelling north, which meant that the next attack would occur on the next full moon at ten miles north of the campsite where Jonah had been attacked. So far there had been three attacks in all and if the pattern I had picked up on was accurate, then there would be a fourth in sixteen days.  
  
I had just pulled out a sheaf of fresh parchment from one of the drawers of my desk and was rummaging for some ink after finding a quill when I felt a poke between my shoulder blades. To say that I wasn’t startled would be an understatement. I caused the folder with all the research within it to slide off the side of the desk in a cascade of papers separating until falling into a scattered heap on the stark white linoleum flooring.  
  
“Relax,” Elsie said. “I was just checking to see how you were coming along. If you have any questions about any of it now would be a good time to ask while we’re all here.”  
  
“No questions,” I said. “But I did pick up on a pattern between the attacks. Did you know that each campsite that an attack happened at is just 10 miles north of the previous?”  
  
“To be honest, we haven’t exactly thought of location,” Elsie said. “We’ve been more worried about finding a connection between the victim’s family and a werewolf that could have attacked for a vengeful reason.”  
  
“Well, I think location is the key to catching this werewolf once and for all because if he sticks to the same pattern, then he’ll be at a campsite 10 miles north of the one where he attacked Jonah.”  
  
“Please don’t tell me you’re getting personally involved with a victim.”  
  
“I’ve spoken with Jonah, yes,” I said. “What’s so wrong with talking with victims?”  
  
“It prejudices our views,” Elsie said. “You’re less likely to be able to view things fairly when you know the victims because you start to rush through any and all research.”  
  
“Well I won’t let my talking with Jonah cloud my judgment.”  
  
“You say that now.”  
  
“I won’t and I mean it.”  
  
I don’t know why I felt defensive, but I did. Elsie didn’t know me. I had always been fair despite my connections with other people. There was a reason I had always been brought in to commentate the Quidditch matches while still at Hogwarts. The professors had liked that I didn’t trash talk a team that was going up against Gryffindor despite the fact that I clearly wanted my own house to win. I had remained fair to both sides, keeping my comments on the matches separate from my feelings.  
  
In fact, I was so impersonal that my mum always told me that she could never tell if something was bothering me the older I got because I hid it so well. I mean, she still knew when something was up, but she rarely ever could pinpoint whether that something was good or bad. She said I got it from my dad, which pleased me. Anything that I did that followed in my dad’s footsteps made me proud because I had always looked up to my dad as a role model. He was just so tall and formidable with his scarred face, showing himself as someone that didn’t let things get him down or stop him from living his life the way he wanted to. He had continued to fight in the war against Voldemort, even after Fenrir Greyback had attacked him. That was what courage looked like in my eyes; courage was never giving up, no matter what was thrown in your path.  
  
“Fine, whatever you say,” Elsie said. “I have to go, but if you have any questions then I’ll be in the lab on Thursday.”  
  
I nodded in response. I appreciated her advice, I really did, but I didn’t need her to dictate who I could and couldn’t talk to. I was my own person.  
  
After she had left, I tried to put my focus back on the paper work before me, but I couldn’t. It was like the words were swimming around on the pages, escaping the clutches of my concentration. This was the first time I had allowed someone to get to me enough to distract me from work and I wasn’t so sure what to think. I definitely didn’t like her in a way that would distract me from work. It must have just been what she had said about not getting close to patients.  
  
I knew how to separate work from my personal life. The last thing I needed was someone telling me that I shouldn’t interact with patients. It also had me remembering that Thomas had taught me that interacting with patients was the perfect way to clear the air of any tension. No offense to Elsie, but I think I trusted Thomas’s judgment a bit more than hers.  
  
Deciding that I wasn’t going to be able to be able to concentrate enough on the papers before me, I decided to pack it in and call it a day. I had discovered a pattern and I fully intended on telling Thomas at the end of the week. But now I had to go because I wanted to stop at Vic’s house before heading home. He had to ask that favour of her.


	7. An Unexpected Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alcohol was driving the fatigue from my mind in a foggy haze. I wasn’t even aware of the words that were floating out of my mouth.
> 
> The next thing I knew I was waking up disorientated on a couch in a living room that I didn’t recognize.

Chapter 7

An Unexpected Night

#

At first I thought there might not be anyone home. For all I knew my sister could still be at the office even if she typically tried to leave by four to pick up Remus from Mum’s since that was where he stayed on days she worked. As for Teddy, well he usually wasn’t home for at least another hour at the earliest; it was quarter after five. But as I was turning on my heel the door opened to reveal Victoire, who looked frazzled.  
  
“Louis,” she said. “What are you doing here?”  
  
“What, a guy can’t pop in on his sister?”  
  
Victoire looked at me suspiciously. “Of course, but usually I’m the one who has to invite you over after going weeks without any communication.”  
  
“I know,” I said. I knew she was right and I wasn’t proud of the fact. “I just needed a word with you. A favour if you would.”  
  
“Very well,” Victoire said, though there was a trace of a smile on her tired face. “Come on in. But please keep your voice down; I just managed to put Remus down for a nap. He’s been quite the terror today.”  
  
“I thought you went into the office on Tuesdays?”  
  
“I usually do,” Victoire said. “But Remus was fussy this morning and I didn’t want to saddle Mum with him when he’s in such a craggy mood.”  
  
I followed Victoire down the hall to the kitchen, taking care to keep my steps light on the wooden flooring. If Remus truly was in one of his whinging moods then I didn’t want to be the one to wake my nephew. I loved the kid, but boy did he have a temper when he was having a bad day.  
  
We entered the kitchen and I took a seat at the table as Victoire pulled the kettle down to put on some tea before pulling out a cookie jar that she placed in the centre of the table. I lifted the lid and plucked one from it, taking a bite from the chocolate biscuit. Victoire had inherited our Mum’s cooking abilities.  
  
It doesn’t take but a couple more minutes until the tea was ready and she’s setting two cups on the table before taking the seat across from me.  
  
“So, what brings you here?” her voice lowered. “It’s not often that I get to see my baby brother twice in the span of a week.”  
  
I rolled my eyes. “I was wondering if you could bring Remus up to St. Mungo’s to visit a patient.”  
  
“What type of patient?”  
  
“The most recent victim of a werewolf attack,” I said. “I think it would do the little guy some good if he could see that he’s not alone.”  
  
Victoire frowned, brow creasing from the process. “I don’t know, Louis.”  
  
“Please, Vic,” I said. “The kid really needs a friend that knows what he’s currently experiencing.”  
  
“But Remus was born a werewolf,” Victoire said. “Being turned is different than being born. Remus didn’t experience any trauma that turned him, just the trauma that comes with every day lycanthropy.”  
  
“Which is exactly why it’d be a great idea that Jonah meets Remus.”  
  
“Louis—” she started, but was interrupted by Remus’s cries drifting down the stairs and through the doorway. She sighed tiredly. “I’ll be right back down.”  
  
“Vic,” I said.  
  
She turned around, responding with her piercing blue eyes.  
  
“Just think about it.”  
  
Without any further acknowledgment I was left in the kitchen while Victoire went up to take care of her son. I rarely ever saw Remus cranky because the kid usually was happy, but like all kids he did have his bad days. But when Victoire carried him down, Remus was actually smiling.  
  
“Remus buddy,” I said. “I hear you’ve been fussing at your mummy all day.”  
  
“Have not,” Remus said, bottom lip jutting out.  
  
I just gave him a look and he crumbled, but didn’t say anything.  
  
“Louis, enough of that,” Victoire said. “I don’t need you terrorizing my child into being good.”  
  
“Who said anything about terrorizing?” I said, smirking. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Remus and I are buddies. Aren’t we little man?”  
  
“Yea,” Remus replied, his smile back.  
  
“See, Remus knows I was joking.”  
  
Victoire gave me that look that never failed to make me retreat to safety.  
  
“Look, I should be getting back to my flat now,” I said. “I’m probably going out with the guys tonight, but think about what I asked you.”  
  
“I will, but no promises.”  
  
“No promises; just think about it,” I said. “It’s all I’m asking.”  
  
I started down the hall, but before I reached the front door I was stopped by Remus tackling my legs from behind. I bent to extricate my nephew from my legs before lifting him over my shoulder and spinning around a few times. All that did was cause him to giggle. When I set him back down on the ground he jumped up and down with his arms raised.  
  
“Again, again, again!”  
  
I laughed and mussed his hair. “Next time, buddy, but now I have to go.”  
  
“Aw,” Remus said. “Can’t you stay longer?”  
  
“Not tonight, little buddy.”  
  
“Remus, come help me fix dinner,” Victoire said. “You can be my special helper.”  
  
Remus perked at that and I said one final good bye before leaving. I reached the end of the driveway and Apparated to the flat. Brody and Michael weren’t home yet so I made a couple slices of toast because I was hungry and the only edible food we had in the pantry was bread. We needed to go grocery shopping; I could do that tomorrow since I worked a night shift.  
  
#  
  
We ended up meeting up with a few of my cousins at the new Pixies and Fairydust pub that was located in Diagon Alley. It had been a while since I’d seen any of them. Hugo, Roxanne, Fred, and James arrived first, with Rose trailing in shortly after and Albus an hour later. I could tell that Albus was exhausted as soon as he collapsed on a vacant stool at our table because it mirrored exactly how I felt.  
  
“Working overtime again, baby brother?” James asked. He side-punched Albus’s shoulder jokingly. “How is our dear ol’ dad?”  
  
Albus shrugged. We all liked to tease him on account of his following after his father’s footsteps, thus having his dad as his boss since Uncle Harry was still Head Auror. There would be no escaping his dad for Albus.  
  
“Things are hectic,” Albus said. “Dad has all of us on the werewolf case, but we’re not getting anywhere with it since a match still hasn’t been found.”  
  
“What about a pattern?” I asked. “Can’t you figure out possible sites for the next attack?”  
  
“That’s what we’re working on,” Albus said, rubbing a hand through his messy, jet-black hair. “But even that doesn’t guarantee positive results.”  
  
“So I guess there’s nothing you can tell me that might help aid research at the hospital,” I said.  
  
“Are you one of the healers trying to decipher what little DNA we have now?”  
  
“Yeah, just had my first day in the lab earlier today,” I said. “All of the other researchers are just lovely.” I emphasized my sarcasm by reaching up to rub the back of my neck to indicate what a pain they all were. “They definitely would rather someone else instead of someone still fresh out of training.”  
  
“You’ll show them you belong on the team, Louis,” Rose encouraged. “Don’t let them get to you. You’re smart and they’ll see that in due time.”  
  
“Or you could always pull a prank on the morons,” James said.  
  
Fred grinned. “In fact, James and I could stop by and set something up.”  
  
“As tempting as that sounds,” I said, “I’d rather not pull any pranks on my co-workers. They hate me enough as it is; I don’t need any more of their grief.”  
  
“You know,” Hugo said, “I thought the same thing when I got promoted a few months ago and was getting flack for being less experienced. But eventually I caved and pulled a prank on my team and you know what, it made them respect me a whole lot more. To this day my colleagues are still suspicious of drinking coffee at work until they’ve actually seen me drink a cuppa from the pot in the break room myself.” Everyone laughed.  
  
“I’ll consider it,” I said. “Either way, if I do pull a prank than I’ll be setting it up; I want the satisfaction of knowing that I pulled one over them, not my cousins. I’ll get more respect that way.”  
  
“Damn right,” Hugo said, raising his butterbeer.  
  
I chinked my glass with his before taking a drink of my own.  
  
“How’s Jonah doing?” Albus asked. “The other victims have already been released, right?”  
  
“Yeah,” I said. “They’re holding Jonah until after his first transformation. He’ll be changing in one of the rooms in the high security psychiatry ward on the basement floor.”  
  
“Poor little guy,” Rose said. “I feel so bad for these children.”  
  
“It won’t take long before the wolf is found now,” Brody chipped in, “it’s already been a few months. How much longer before he gets cocky and slips up big time?”  
  
“Yeah, perhaps,” Albus said with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “But I just don’t know because evidence is just too evading at the moment. I mean, nothing is helping. We need witnesses and so far we have none. This werewolf is covering his tracks quite well, which shows that he isn’t reckless with his actions.”  
  
“Or she,” Rose said.  
  
“Please don’t start with any of your gender equality spiels, Rose,” Albus said. “I really don’t have the patience presently.”  
  
Rose rolled her eyes, but dropped it.  
  
“You know, Albus,” Hugo said, “I did figure out some possible locations that could be the next attack site. We’ve put together some teams to stake each out on the next full moon.”  
  
“Alright, send a report to my dad and I’m sure he’ll assign some Aurors to each site for extra enforcement.”  
  
“Speaking of sites,” I said. “I actually worked out a list of possible sites in the lab when I noticed that there was a specific distance from each of the previous attack sites. I could give them to both of you.”  
  
“That would be great, Louis,” Hugo said. “We’re really strapped with this one.”  
  
The conversation changes and I wind up dosing off only to be woken up by Brody pouring a pitcher of water over my head. Sputtering, I swore while jumping up from where I had been sitting. I guess I was more exhausted than I had originally thought. Looks like I was going to have to sleep the whole day tomorrow before my night shift in the Dai Llewellyn ward.  
  
“I’ll be heading out now,” I said, shaking drops of water from my hair, causing it to stick up in short red spikes.  
  
“Next time we’re getting you drunk,” James said, pointing a finger at me. “You need to cut loose; you’re too strung tight these days. Can’t have you turning into Albus on us, now can we?”  
  
“Hey!” Albus said, glaring at his brother. “I am not uptight.”  
  
But the protest might as well have fallen on deaf ears for all the attention James gave Albus.  
  
“I’ll see you guys another time,” I said. “Try not to kill each other in the mean time.”  
  
I started to make my way out, but as I was leaving Elsie entered, stopping me in my tracks.  
  
“Hullo, Louis,” Elsie said.  
  
I paused, standing just inside the entrance to the pub. If only I had left sooner perhaps I wouldn’t have gotten recognized by a colleague. She must think of me as a slacker now since I was spending my Tuesday night in a pub.  
  
“Relax,” Elsie said, obviously noticing my wide eyes. “Everyone deserves to have a wind down after a long day at work and I know you had to work a split-double. You had been my relief last night, remember?” The last was said as a reminder since I had furrowed my brow before realizing she had gotten off right before my shift had started on the Accidental floor the previous night. “Were you just on your way out?”  
  
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m still knackered despite the nap I had between shifts.”  
  
“Welcome to the sporadic schedule of a fully qualified healer,” Elsie said, voice dipped with sarcasm. “Of course, it has its perks, too. The main one being that you get to watch people’s moods improve as you heal them.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess I’m still getting used to the lack of sleep,” I said, rubbing a hand down the length of my face. “It wasn’t as bad when I was training and being supervised.”  
  
Elsie smiled. “I’ll let you in on a secret: at the end of my first week of being fully qualified, I ended up falling asleep on the job. I had been checking a chart that was hanging on a door outside of a patient’s room before going in to check up on him when I just fell asleep standing up, right there in the hallway. Another healer found me an hour later and shook me back awake; I was so disoriented that I couldn’t even tell him what I was supposed to be doing let alone what floor I was on.”  
  
“How old are you?” the question popped out of my mouth before I could stop the words from escaping. She looked more like she was my age than older.  
  
“How old do you think I am?”  
  
I didn’t respond for fear I would anger her if I guessed wrong.  
  
“No, really, I want to know how old you think I am,” Elsie said. “I always find it amusing when people guess, especially watching their reaction when I tell them how old I really am.”  
  
“I dunno,” I said, already regretting my answer before I actually gave it. “Mid-twenties?”  
  
Elsie smirked. “Try late twenties.”  
  
“Seriously,” I said, blinking.  
  
“Yep,” Elsie said. “I’m twenty-eight and as my mother still reminds me, I’m painfully single. She’s been trying to set me up with blind date after blind date for the past couple months in an attempt to marry me off.”  
  
“Uh,” I nervously laughed, unsure of how to respond.  
  
“I’m also socially awkward,” Elsie said. “Can’t seem to learn when I should shut my mouth.”  
  
I laughed nervously.  
  
“Well, since we’re both here we might as well grab at least one drink together,” Elsie said. “We can discuss your long day, or not discuss it. Your choice.”  
  
“Uh,” I said. “I was actually on my way out. As you’ve said, it’s been a long day and all I want to do is get back to my flat so that I can sleep.”  
  
“That was before you ran into me,” Elsie said. “Now you’re stuck.”  
  
I studied her determined expression. Clearly I wouldn’t be able to get out of having a drink with her. I only hoped my cousins and friends where too drunk to notice that I was still in the pub. Let alone the fact that I was standing next to an attractive blonde; or rather I supposed she was pretty if you liked the girl next door types. It didn’t matter to me since I wasn’t looking to date a woman that I worked with. I had a lot on my plate without adding a girlfriend to the pile. It would just be a drink between two co-workers; comrades, so to speak.  
  
Needless to say, I followed Elsie over to the bar. We ordered our drinks and before long we were ordering another and I had completely forgotten how exhausted I had been. The alcohol was driving the fatigue from my mind in a foggy haze. I wasn’t even aware of the words that were floating out of my mouth.  
  
The next thing I knew I was waking up disorientated on a couch in a living room that I didn’t recognize. Squinting, my eyes slowly adjusted to the stream of light that stabbed in through a window with light blue curtains that were partially opened. I brought my hands up to my head. I hadn’t experienced a hangover since I had graduated from training to supervision. I went to sit up and let out a groan as my head felt like it was being cleaved in half.  
  
“He lives,” a disembodied female voice said. It sounded familiar, too familiar for my liking. What mess had I gotten myself into last night? I tried to recall the events of last night, but to no avail. The last thing I could remember was drinking with Elsie. What we had talked about or even did was evading me. But none of that explained where I was.  
  
I hastened as I again attempted, and succeeded that time, to sit up and look around for the owner of the voice. Then she walked in: Elsie. I was in Elsie’s house. Oh hell.


	8. Falling Into A Schedule

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “She’s nice,” Frank said the instant Elsie was out of earshot. “And cute.”
> 
> “Your point?”
> 
> “No point,” Frank said. “Just that I can see why you’re attracted to her.”
> 
> “I am not attracted to her.”
> 
> “Is that why you’re blushing?”

Chapter 8

Falling Into A Schedule

#

I was shocked beyond words.  
  
“You were really far gone last night and I didn’t know where you lived so I brought you home with me,” Elsie was quick to explain. “Nothing happened.”  
  
“Weren’t you drunk, too?”  
  
“I only had two drinks,” Elsie said. “You on the other hand had seven, and however many you may have had before we ran into each other. By the time you had finished your seventh shot of firewhiskey, I was sober enough to Apparate.”  
  
I groaned.  
  
“If it helps, you were highly entertaining.”  
  
I buried my face in my hands, wishing I could disappear right then and there.  
  
“What’d I do?” my voice muffled against my hand.  
  
“Nothing,” Elsie said, smirking, “except dance.”  
  
Oh, no, I didn’t. I couldn’t have. I sucked at dancing, and I mean really sucked hardcore.  
  
“Those moves of yours are... cute to say the least,” Elsie said, “especially that one where you shake your booty up against random girls.”  
  
“No,” I said. “I didn’t.”  
  
“Oh, you did.”  
  
“But nothing happened between us,” I said, suddenly wanting confirmation. I was still freaked that I was on her couch with no memory of how I had gotten there.  
  
“Nothing,” Elsie said. “I wouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that, plus you’re still a baby.”  
  
I glared. “I’m 23. That’s not much younger than you; just a five year age gap.”  
  
“Five years can be quite the gap, too.”  
  
“Sure, whatever,” I said, not believing her.  
  
“Besides, I’m not like that.”  
  
“I didn’t say you were,” I said. “I just worry that I may have tried something even if I can’t remember it. I don’t want things to turn weird between us. I like having you as a friend.”  
  
“Well worry no more because nothing happened.”  
  
The way she said it made me doubt the legitimacy of her response. But I wasn’t about to call her on it. I had been so drunk that I had blacked out anything that had happened after the third or fourth shot, and that was my problem not hers. Though, I was surprised that my mates hadn’t noticed I was still there and shitfaced. They must have left before I had started acting disorderly. I’ll have to ask Brody and Mike the next time I see them, which unfortunately won’t be until tomorrow since our schedules overlapped.  
  
Until tomorrow I was going to have to take Elsie’s word that nothing had stirred between us.  
  
#  
  
My night shift in the Dai Llewellyn ward was dull to say the least. Nothing eventful happened aside from routine check-ups. A lot of the time there would be a patient in Dai Llewellyn that would wake up screaming from a nightmare due to the trauma they had experienced.  
  
It was a couple days later when things picked up at the hospital. I was working a day shift on Dai Llewellyn ward; I was getting a lot of those shifts. So far the day had been incredibly fast-paced. I was happy when my lunch break rolled around because it meant I would be able to take a break from dealing with other people’s trauma.  
  
“Louis?”  
  
I looked over my shoulder after I had entered the cafeteria to find Frank sitting at a table with his lunch.  
  
“Frank, how’s it going?”  
  
“Alright,” Frank said. “I’ve had exams for most of the week. Please tell me it gets better.”  
  
“Uh,” I said. “You want me to lie?”  
  
“If you have to,” Frank replied.  
  
“It gets better,” I said. “How was that? Was it believable?”  
  
“You know, I almost believed you for a second there.”  
  
I laughed and then told him I would come back after nabbing some lunch. There wasn’t much to choose from, but then again it was a hospital cafeteria.  
  
“Have you told Lily yet?” I said as I set my tray down and sat across from him.  
  
“Why must we talk about this every time we see each other?” Frank groaned. “Of course I haven’t.”  
  
“Do you want me to talk to her for you?” I said. “I will, you know. I’m sure she likes you, too.”  
  
“Yeah, she just likes spending all her time dating Lysander because she can’t stop thinking about me,” Frank said. “Seriously, we’re just friends.”  
  
“I know that,” I said. “But whether you know that is something else entirely. I mean, we both know you wish she was dating you instead of Lysander.”  
  
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Frank said. “No matter how many times Lysander makes her cry she always runs back to him after I dry her eyes.”  
  
“You know what, mate, it’s her loss. Just forget her. If she can’t see you for more than a friend, then she doesn’t deserve you.”  
  
“Yeah, I suppose,” Frank said. “What about you?”  
  
“What about me what?”  
  
“Any girls you have your eye on?”  
  
I looked down at my tray, fiddling with a napkin. “I’m too busy for a girlfriend.”  
  
“So you say that every time I ask,” Frank said. “Yet I’ve never believed you less than I do right now. There is a girl on your mind.”  
  
“There is not.”  
  
But I knew Frank would be able to read through my lies. He had been my friend way back in our Hogwarts days despite being in different years. Frank was able to tell when I was lying. Of course it also helped that I was a terribly liar.  
  
“There’s something you aren’t telling me.”  
  
I stared into the bowl of soup on my tray so intently that I didn’t notice who had entered the cafeteria. If I had been paying attention I would have known that Elsie had entered and it may have given me some time to brace myself as she approached the table we sat at. But no, I was too busy studying the vegetables in the bowl in front of me.  
  
“Hi, Louis, how’s it going?”  
  
At the sound of her voice I startled so much that my bowl of scolding hot soup tipped forward into my lap, causing me to jump up faster than a caffeinated Cornish pixie. Damn, damn, damn. Why do I always manage to make a complete fool out of myself in front of girls? That’s why I’m still single. I don’t know how to act around them. I felt like an inexperienced teenage boy all over again.  
  
I could tell that Frank was trying, and failing I might add, not to laugh at me as I blotted at the front of my lime green robes with napkins. These robes were definitely ruined. It was a good thing I had a spare set of healer robes in my locker. I was able to dry my robes with my wand, even if the stain was still there, though.  
  
I could tell Elsie was trying not to laugh at my expanse, though I kind of wished she would. If she thought it was funny then she should just laugh and get it over with.  
  
I wanted to bury myself in my misery right then.  
  
Elsie sat down next to me. “So, what are you boys talking about?” I wish she wouldn’t say boys. It made me feel even more incompetent than spilling soup in my lap.  
  
“Louis’s love life,” Frank said. “Or rather, lack of one.”  
  
I glared. “Thanks for that.”  
  
“Ooh,” Elsie said. “Did he tell you about our _scandalous_ sleep over a few nights back?”  
  
“Sleepover?” Frank said, instantly interested.  
  
“Oh, yeah,” Elsie said. “He was so drunk that I had to take pity on him and bring him back to my place. The poor thing had no one to take care of him.”  
  
“Where were Brody and Mike?” Frank said, directing the question at me.  
  
“They had already left by that point and had thought I had done so already,” I said. “Of course I hadn’t since I ran into Elsie on my way out and she forced me to stay for drinks.”  
  
“How many drinks did you have?”  
  
“Apparently seven,” I told him, rubbing the back of my neck self-consciously. “But I had had a couple before.”  
  
“More than seven?!”  
  
“He was completely gone,” Elsie said. “It was hilarious.”  
  
“I’m glad I could amuse you,” I said. “By the way, thanks for ratting me out. I had so far managed to not tell everyone how much I drunk that night. Brody and Mike had just assumed that I had got lucky and went home with some random chick.”  
  
“Well you did go home with a woman,” Elsie said. “Whether or not it was random is entirely up to you.”  
  
“Are you sure nothing happened last night?”  
  
“Positive.”  
  
“Really, because it almost seems like you’re hiding something from me.”  
  
“Well, you did try to come on to me,” Elsie said. “But I didn’t let you get away with anything. You’re definitely manageable.”  
  
Frank laughed.  
  
“You make it sound like I’m a dog.”  
  
Elsie shrugged. “You were already house broken, thankfully, too.”  
  
“Now you’re just adding more fuel to the fire.”  
  
“No, of course not,” Elsie said through a smirk.  
  
“Why don’t you join us?” Frank asked. “I’d love to hear how Louis tried to come on to you, especially since he has such crap luck when it comes to the ladies.”  
  
“As much as I’d love to recall that particular story,” Elsie said, “I really have to get going. I’m only here to grab a sandwich to take back to Spell Damage with me. It’s mad busy up there and I’m going to have to work through my break.”  
  
“Do you need any extra wands there?” I asked. “It’s pretty quiet in the Dai Llewellyn ward.”  
  
“You’ve been getting quite a many shifts in Dai Llewellyn.”  
  
“Yeah,” I said. “I prefer Spell Damage, though.”  
  
“I suppose we could benefit from some extra help,” Elsie said. “I’m sure we’ll still be busy when you get back from break. Strangest case I’ve had so far has been the guy who somehow managed to get a Quaffle stuck up his nose; his brother dared him that he couldn’t make the inside of his nose larger to fit the Quaffle in and he proved them wrong. There were bogeys on it.” She shivered at the recollection. “Seriously, though, some wizards are insane.”  
  
“A Quaffle, really,” I said. “I’m kind of curious how that would look.”  
  
“No, trust me, you’re not.”  
  
“Can I be curious?” Frank asked.  
  
“Considering you haven’t actually done any work outside the training room,” Elsie said, “I’d say you can be curious. But after your first shift in Spell Damage we’re taking you out for drinks because you’ll need at least one after some of the stuff you’ll see.”  
  
“It’s that bad,” Frank said. “Enough to drive a healer to drink? Really?”  
  
Elsie and I nodded solemnly.  
  
“Well, I really have to get back,” Elsie said. “I’ll see you in a bit, then, Louis.”  
  
“Yeah, see you,” I said.  
  
“She’s nice,” Frank said the instant Elsie was out of earshot. “And cute.”  
  
“Your point?”  
  
“No point,” Frank said. “Just that I can see why you’re attracted to her.”  
  
“I am not attracted to her.”  
  
“Is that why you’re blushing?”  
  
“I’m not blushing, either,” I said, even though my cheeks felt considerably warmer. “She’s just a work friend.”  
  
“Why don’t you try saying that without blushing?”  
  
“I’m not blushing.”  
  
“You know, rosy cheeks are a good contrast on your pale skin, Lou,” Frank said, “matches your hair.”  
  
I scowled. There would be no point in denying it since Frank would continue to insist. I was also pretty positive he was right about my blushing. The temperature in the cafeteria suddenly felt hot, which doesn’t make sense when maintenance kept the temperature on cool to keep germs from spreading. Germs manifested in warm weather.  
  
I’m such a nerd.  
  
Honestly, it’s not like Elsie would ever want to go out with me. I should just get over whatever I was feeling toward her now. It was probably just a crush. There was no way I actually legitimately liked her. Not that there was anything the matter with her. There wasn’t. I just don’t date women I work with. I learned my lesson back when I was still in training.  
  
Her name was Cynthia and she had gone to a different magical school instead of Hogwarts. She had seemed alright at first, but then she started showing up at my flat unannounced. I hadn’t even told her where I lived either. It freaked me out.  
  
I ended up having to get a restraining order against her and switching training classes. I hadn’t even done anything to lead her on either. I was just nice to her. But I was nice to everyone so why she had thought I was into her in that way was beyond me. I mean, she was cute, but some of the things she said were awkward and made me uncomfortable. Mike had said her craziness far outweighed her cuteness, whatever that meant. I still wouldn’t have been interested had she been cuter. She was just far too weird.  
  
But anyway, I digress. After that instance I hadn’t felt all to up for dating. Having to get rid of a crazed stalker really took a lot out of a bloke. I mean, there had been other girls since, but I had been too scared that they would resort to stalking me if I showed even the slightest interest in them. I was only just getting over the whole stalking debacle; at any point, I was still far from starting a serious relationship.  
  
Not that I wanted to be with Elsie. I didn’t, or at least I don’t think I did. I was enjoying having her as a colleague that I could rely on that wouldn’t treat me like some stupid kid.  
  
“I should get back to work,” I said, suddenly. “Make sure everything’s alright on the ward before heading over to Spell Damage. It was nice catching up. Talk to Lily.”  
  
Frank gave me that look he always gave me when I insisted he talk to Lily about how he felt. I ignored it and stared back pointedly. The only way to get past it would be to talk to her. If she didn’t feel the same, then at least he would have told her. And if she did feel the same... well, at least she would know that he liked her more than a friend. Those two really were hopeless when it came to each other. I knew Lily liked Frank more than she let on, I could just tell by the way she spoke of him when he wasn’t around. Why she was still hung up on Lysander despite their constant bickering was beyond me. Women, honestly, they just couldn’t make up their minds.  
  
“She’s back with Lysander,” Frank said resolutely.  
  
“So what,” I said. “She still deserves to know the truth about how you feel. You owe her that much, even if she chooses to stay with Lysander. Honestly, she deserves to know all of the choices she has.”  
  
“You make it sound as though I’m holding her back from making an important decision.”  
  
“If you don’t think you’re important then maybe you don’t deserve my cousin.”  
  
I started to turn, but was stopped by Frank calling me back.  
  
“Do you really think I have a chance with her?”  
  
“Would I encourage you to tell her if I didn’t?”  
  
Frank let out a sigh. “I dunno, I guess you wouldn’t.”  
  
“Well, there’s your answer,” I said. “Talk to her.”  
  
If Frank ended up telling Lily about how he felt then I could consider a side job in matchmaking because I was sure she would dump Lysander for Frank in a heartbeat. No lie, I was that confident that my cousin felt more than camaraderie.  
  
After I finished checking on the Dai Llewellyn patients I took the lift down to the fourth floor to help out in Spell Damage. It was a madhouse. I had barely stepped out of the lift before Thomas saw me and barked an order for me to head to room 459 to help assist the minor cases; 459 was where minor cases went when the ward was swamped with all sorts of cases coming in left, right, and centre. Major cases always had priority.  
  
I immersed myself in making right as many patients as I could for the rest of my shift plus an hour before I was told to go home. Apparently I had bags under my eyes. That and St. Mungo’s was good about making sure healers didn’t work overtime because they wanted us to be well rested for our shifts. I wasn’t complaining, but I really didn’t mind staying late. I was helping cure people of the idiot mistakes they had brought upon themselves. One kid had even managed to cause his dad to sing a Weird Sisters song in an off-key voice. Ah, how I miss the bursts of magic that I had exhibited when I had been little.  
  
My parents had had to keep both eyes on me. The first burst of magic I exhibited was turning Victoire’s hair neon green when she had been yelling at me for leaving a toy truck laying out in the living room. The toy truck in question had an enchantment to drive itself around in circles and Victoire hadn’t been paying attention to where she was walking when it ran into her foot, causing her to fall forward. All I can remember thinking is how much she would resemble a monster with green hair as she yelled at me. Dad had found it amusing, but Mum had punished me with a time-out in a corner to ‘think about what I had done and why I shouldn’t do it.’ I had been too excited about using magic for the first time to care about the consequences of my actions, though.  
  
I ended up heading home to find both Brody and Michael already there. They were listening to a Quidditch match on the wireless. By the sounds of it I could determine that Portree was playing Appleby. Neither were my team, but I still grabbed a seat. It was Quidditch which was enough reason to listen. Plus, I had nothing else to do.  
  
#  
  
By next week I had fallen into a regular schedule of sleep and work. For the first time ever I was actually getting a healthy amount of sleep, even if it was at odd times of the day. Despite hearing horror stories from older healers about the lack of sleep I was finding it easy to fall into a schedule.  
  
Still no progress on the werewolf, though. The full moon was that weekend and we were all on edge in the lab. If the werewolf attacked, leaving behind more evidence that wasn’t conclusive, then we would have to halt our research, which none of us wanted to do.  
  
Also, Victoire still hadn’t managed to bring Remus in to meet Jonah. I was still keeping my fingers crossed, though. Jonah was anxious with this being his first full moon. He had woken up from nightmares of the night he had been bitten every night shift I had been on the Dai Llewellyn ward, and I’m sure even on nights that I wasn’t scheduled.  
  
I had written to Victoire a couple days ago and was still waiting to hear back from her. I knew she was probably busy with work and Remus, especially since the full moon was drawing close. Remus was always cranky the closer the full moon drew. I knew she had her hands full, but I also knew that Remus could help Jonah and vice versa. They could help each other. Remus didn’t know any other kids with lycanthropy; he deserved to know that he wasn’t the only one. It would give him some extra support in knowing that others knew what he went through once a month.  
  
I would ask her if she’d given it any further thought since she was going to be at Shell Cottage for dinner with our parents on Friday if she hadn’t already brought Remus up to meet Jonah by then. The full moon was on Saturday.  
  
With that last thought I headed down to the locker room to change out of my healer robes and into a pair of Muggle jeans and t-shirt. I had gone home the past weekend so all my clothes were clean, including the robes that I had spilled soup on. I was meeting up with Brody, Michael, and a bunch of my cousins at the Leaky that night. We hadn’t been able to have a night out since I had gotten drunk and woken up on Elsie’s couch. Speaking of Elsie, she still hadn’t told me how I had come on to her that night. I also felt like I was getting mixed signals from her.  
  
One moment we seemed like friends, the next she was shutting me out. I had never been more confused in my life. But whatever. I wasn’t about to let her get me down. Tonight was supposed to be a stress reliever. I wasn’t about to worry over our friendship. She was probably just as stressed as I was. No big deal.


	9. Caught Off Guard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I headed toward the lifts to take it up to the cafeteria when I inadvertently run into Elsie, though, and ended up awkwardly apologizing for bumping into her.
> 
> “Louis, I didn’t even know you were here,” Elsie said. “Were you in the ER?”
> 
> I nodded, still not trusting my voice to verbally repeat what I had witnessed.

Chapter 9

Caught Off Guard

#

By Friday evening my sleeping schedule had somehow gotten screwed. It had only taken a couple days, but there you have it. I had purple bags under my eyes. I showed up at shell cottage and my mum went into instant worry mode. Seriously, she needn’t worry. I could take care of myself. Things had just been hectic at the hospital in the last fortnight.  
  
“Louis, you really need to take better care of yourself,” Mum said.  
  
“I’m fine, Mum,” I said. “Honest. I’ve been busy is all.”  
  
“That’s no excuse.”  
  
“Mum—” I started, but was interrupted by Dad.  
  
“Listen to your mum.”  
  
I nodded, not feeling up for arguing with Mum over how much sleep I was getting. I really had been getting enough sleep up until a couple nights ago. I was on-call tomorrow night, though, and it was also the full moon. That basically meant that I would be getting a fire-call at some point in the night since there was sure to be another attack.  
  
Both Hugo and Albus would be working, stationed at different posts. I was glad that I was only a healer. I was not the adventurous type in the slightest. Plus I was afraid of what could be lurking in the dark, in this case there would be a werewolf lurking. It wasn’t the dark I was afraid of, though, just what lurked in it. There was some scary shit out there.  
  
“Uncle Lou!”  
  
I looked over toward my nephew, sitting in Teddy’s lap. The kid looked exhausted; his eyelids drooped, threatening to shut any second. It was always tough seeing him the closer to the full moon it got.  
  
I walked over to the couch in the living room. “Hey, little buddy,” I said, ruffling his sandy hair.  
  
“Tired,” he said, letting his head fall against his father’s chest as he put his thumb in his mouth.  
  
“Oh, Louis, I thought I heard you come in,” Victoire said, joining us from the kitchen. She must have been helping Mum out with supper. “I was going to write, but I forgot. I took Remus in to see Jonah yesterday. The two became friends quickly. Jonah’s Mum is going to write after he’s been discharged so the two can play.”  
  
“That’s great, Vic, I was going to ask you about that.”  
  
“It was a great idea,” Victoire said. “Thanks for pushing me into taking him. You were right. He needs a friend that knows what he goes through each month.”  
  
I shrugged. “I just figured they could help each other out.”  
  
Victoire pulled me into a hug at that moment and I only half-heartedly resisted. I could tell she needed to hug her gratitude out. Sometimes you had to let your big sister hug the feelings out of you.  
  
“Well isn’t this sweet,” Mum said. “If only Dominique were here.”  
  
“Oh, yeah, where is Dom now?” I asked once Victoire had freed me. “Still in France?”  
  
“Yeah,” Mum said. “She sends her love. Apparently Braden has picked up a few freelance jobs for a couple Wizarding magazines. Can’t remember which ones, but at least he’s still finding magazines to submit articles to.”  
  
“What about Dom?”  
  
“Still taking pictures and submitting,” Mum said. “Honestly, I’m not sure because she’s always so vague about her career as a photographer. She’s still working at that cafe, though.”  
  
“She should quit this constant moving around and come back closer to home,” Dad said. “Honestly, I don’t know how many times I have to offer her a job at Gringotts.”  
  
“Oh, Bill, hush will you,” Mum said. “Dom doesn’t want to work at a bank. Can you even imagine her working there?”  
  
“Fair point,” Dad said. “I just wish she would find a more stable source of income.”  
  
“But she has one, Dad,” Victoire said. “She works regularly at the cafe.”  
  
“I meant a real job.”  
  
“A job is a job,” I said. “We can’t all have serious jobs; at least Dom is doing what she wants to.”  
  
It was kind of annoying how we could all end up talking about Dom even when she wasn’t actually here. I wondered if they would talk about me if I wasn’t here. Probably not. No matter the circumstance, Dom would still be the problem sibling. Whoever said middle siblings didn’t get enough attention clearly hadn’t seen my family. Of the three of us, Dom was by far the most spoiled as a child. Not that I minded. All I needed as a kid was a broomstick and I was set to entertain myself for hours in the backyard.  
  
“We should talk about something else,” Mum said, “especially since Dominique isn’t here to defend herself. How’s work, Teddy?”  
  
Teddy looked up as he had been watching his son, who had fallen asleep on his chest. “Mad is what it’s been. Harry has all of us on duty tomorrow night.”  
  
“Do you think you’ll catch the werewolf responsible?” Dad asked.  
  
“Hopefully,” Teddy said. “If not then I fear there might be an outbreak of riots that might spark attention from the Muggles, thus endangering the Statue of Secrecy.”  
  
“Emotions are running tight with this string of werewolf attacks, uh,” Dad said. “I’m not surprised. I hope you guys can catch the werewolf responsible.”  
  
“Me, too,” Teddy said. “We’re also working closely with the Werewolf Control Unit, too.”  
  
“I’m on-call all tomorrow night,” I said.  
  
“Then that settles it,” Mum said. “You’re to come over and get some sleep in your old bedroom until you’re called in.”  
  
“Mum,” I said. “I really don’t—”  
  
“No excuses,” Mum said.  
  
“Fine,” I said.  
  
There would be no arguing with my mum that night. She was certainly on a roll. As much as I loved my mum, I really wished she would stop with her constant fussing over me. I could take care of myself. I mean, she still did my laundry, but aside from that I was a fully grown wizard, dammit.  
  
#  
  
I made sure to owl in that I would be at my parents’ on the night of the full moon so they’d know where to get in touch with me. The first thing my Mum had me do when I arrived was march straight into my old room to get some shut eye. She said she’d wake me if anyone fire-called for me. It was still the same as I had left it during my Hogwarts years. Same Gryffindor banners hung on the wall, a poster showing my support for England’s Quidditch team, and a scarlet and gold duvet on the four-poster bed that closely resembled the one I had slept on at school.  
  
There was still parchment, quills, and ink wells scattered on the surface of my desk. I glanced at the top sheaf of parchment to see that it was my acceptance into the St. Mungo’s Healer Training Program. Funny, I had thought my Mum would have snatched it up and had it framed by now. Kidding, or am I?  
  
I collapsed under the covers on my bed and was fast asleep before you could say Sleeping Draught. But I honestly couldn’t tell you how long I was asleep before my Mum was shaking me awake. I blinked a few times before my eyes focused on her. The expression on her face was conflicted; I could tell she was guilty about having to wake me up.  
  
“Healer Newman just fire-called,” Mum said. “He needs you to come in. There’s been an attack.”  
  
“Did he say anything about the werewolf being caught?”  
  
“No,” Mum said. “He seemed preoccupied. All he said was that they needed you in.”  
  
I stood up and made my way downstairs, bleary eyed but alert.  
  
“Do you want something to eat before you leave?”  
  
“No time, Mum,” I said. “I have to leave now.”  
  
“Oh, alright,” Mum said. “But be careful, I don’t want you splinching yourself.”  
  
I nodded as I left out the front door and made it to the end of the drive before apparating, successfully, into the locker room of St. Mungo’s. There I hurriedly exchanged my jeans and polo for the lime green healer scrubs and robe. I very nearly forgot to pin my ID to the front of my robe and had to double back to my locker for it.  
  
By the time I finally managed to reach the ER on the Dai Llewellyn ward it was a bustle of activity and I could barely tell which way was up and down. When I finally spotted Thomas in the centre of it all, it took me a good five to ten minutes of dodging around everyone else that was crowded in the ER to reach him. And when I do reach him I had to force myself not to turn away from the child laying on the gurney, just barely alive.  
  
I was still gapping and at an utter loss as to what to do when Thomas finally noticed me and started shouting orders at me to which I had no other option but to do as he said. But for all we do it might as well be in vain for the young girl who was bitten ended up dying after we had invested over an hour in treating her in attempt to stabilize her vitals. My first loss as a healer.  
  
Thomas ordered me to go grab a cup of tea once he saw how shaken up I was over it. I vaguely felt myself nod in response as my feet started to move toward the double doors that led into the ward.  
  
I headed toward the lifts to take it up to the cafeteria when I inadvertently run into Elsie, though, and ended up awkwardly apologizing for bumping into her.  
  
“Louis, I didn’t even know you were here,” Elsie said. “Were you in the ER?”  
  
I nodded, still not trusting my voice to verbally repeat what I had witnessed.  
  
“Is she...?” Elsie’s voice trailed off, making me think my expression gave her the answer she was looking for even if I didn’t say anything. “No, she’s not?”  
  
All I could do was nod.  
  
Elsie’s hand covered her mouth as her eyes watered. Her reaction doesn’t help my own; in fact it only worsened how I felt before running into her.  
  
Something on my face must have concerned her because Elsie suddenly sobered, turning stoic, and reached out to place her hand on my forearm. I barely even registered her touch in that moment. My mind was so far away, still back in that ER with the little girl that would never again smile at her family.  
  
“Louis, are you alright?”  
  
I could tell she was concerned, but she needn’t be. I would be fine. I just needed to get as far away from the Dai Llewellyn ER as I could in that moment. As far away from the lifeless corpse of that girl.  
  
“C’mere,” Elsie said, tugging my hand as the lift doors open.  
  
I wasn’t exactly sure where she was taking me since I couldn’t see what button she pressed once in the lift. But since we were leaving the Dai Llewellyn ward I was happy to let her take the lead.  
  
“I remember how I felt when I witnessed my first death,” Elsie said over the quiet hum of the lift. “How incompetent I felt, like it was my fault. Like I hadn’t tried as vigorously as I should have. We all have those days, Louis. We just have to take it one day at a time. It comes with the job.”  
  
I nodded and swallowed before attempting to speak. “I know death happens,” I said, surprised at the croakiness of my voice before clearing it, “but I just wasn’t expecting it tonight. None of the other children bitten by this werewolf had died.”  
  
“Yeah, I don’t think any of us were expecting a death tonight.”  
  
“Where are you taking me?”  
  
“To the lab,” Elsie said. “Apparently they, the Werewolf Control Unit, got a more definitive sample at the scene tonight.”  
  
“Please tell me you’re being serious.”  
  
“Of course I’m being serious,” Elsie said as the lift gave a shutter before stopping. “Well that can’t be good.”  
  
I stared at her in shock, unable to grasp the realisation that we were now stuck in a lift together.  
  
“I thought they fixed this last month,” Elsie said, not paying him any attention as she sent a message via Patronus to, I assumed, someone in technical support. “Brian better still be here.”  
  
“And if he isn’t?”  
  
“Then we’re stuck here for at least an hour until Kevin comes in for his shift,” Elsie said. “Brian should still be here, but he’s been known to slide out of his shifts early.”  
  
I frowned. “How do you know so much about the magical engineers and their schedules?”  
  
“Oh, I just used to date Brian is all,” Elsie said. “Jealous?”  
  
“Me, jealous,” I said, trying to keep my face neutral, “yeah, right, in your dreams.”  
  
“It’s alright if you’ve had fantasies about me, Louis,” Elsie said. “After all, you have stayed over at my house. Few men have been inside. You should count yourself as lucky.”  
  
“You’re awfully full of yourself.”  
  
Elsie shrugged. “I’m confident.”  
  
“Are you sure that’s all?” I asked. “You’re not just hoarding something about what happened the night I stayed over from me.”  
  
“Oh, you would know considering you were so thrashed you couldn’t even walk on your own, let alone disapparate.”  
  
I felt my cheeks warm and knew I was blushing. Ducking my head, I mumbled incoherently to myself.  
  
“Sorry, didn’t quite make that out,” Elsie said, albeit snootily.  
  
“What is with you?” I said, staring angrily at her.  
  
“If you must know,” Elsie said, “you. You’re what’s the matter with me. You’ve gone and gotten into my head thanks to what you tried to do that night. And what’s more is you don’t even remember any of it.”  
  
“Well, as you so rightly put, I was thrashed,” I said. “I believe that was the word you used.”  
  
“You are so immature,” Elsie said. “I don’t even know what I see in you.”  
  
I was stunned speechless, unsure of what to say to that. Had she meant what I thought she meant? But surely she didn’t like me like that. Elsie had made it clear that we were only friends. What game was she playing at? I creased my brows.  
  
“You know, for someone who’s supposed to be so smart,” Elsie said, “you really are dim-witted.”  
  
I tried to grin chastely, but was still trying to wrap my head around what she was really saying behind all the insults. Why couldn’t girls be straight forward? I thought.  
  
“Even when I’m trying to tell you I like you,” Elsie said, continuing for him, “you stand there like a complete moron.”  
  
“Wait,” I said, finally finding my voice. “You like me?”  
  
“Well, duh, I’ve only been trying to tell you that for the past several minutes. Where have you been, Louis?”  
  
“But you made it pretty clear we were only to be friends,” I said. “And hang on, what did I try to do that night? And why didn’t you tell me when I asked you if anything happened?”  
  
“Why do you think?” Elsie parroted back.  
  
“Don’t start,” I said. “I want answers.”  
  
“Nothing, okay,” Elsie said. “I stopped you before you could do anything.”  
  
“But what did I try, Elsie?”  
  
My voice was terse and I was surprised when she didn’t back down, but instead matched my anger.  
  
“You tried to kiss me,” Elsie said. “That was all.”  
  
“And you stopped me despite liking me?”  
  
“That was before I started liking you as more than a friend.”  
  
“And now,” I said evenly.  
  
“Now what?”  
  
Did I really have to spell it out for her? Seriously, girls really knew how to beat around the bush. I was being nothing but straight with her.  
  
“Do I really have to say it?”  
  
Elsie just stared at me and I could tell that I would have to say it. Clearly she wanted to hear me say it.  
  
“If I tried to kiss you now, would you let me?”  
  
“You’ll just have to figure it out for yourself.”  
  
I rolled my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh from between my clenched teeth. She was so infuriating.  
  
Before I could act on any of her words, she had shifted closer in front of me. I could smell her perfume, some flowery scent, and it was overpowering my senses. If anyone held me at wand point to force what happened in this lift I’d say it all happened because her perfume had addled my brain. It was the only reasoning that could explain what I did next since I wasn’t the type of bloke to act on my impulses when it came to women. And oh did I act. I pulled her right up against me and kissed her full on the mouth, and wouldn’t you know that the lift chose that exact moment to spring back to life.


	10. If You Can't Find 'Em

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If the werewolf wasn’t registered... Well, I didn’t want to think about that. None of us wanted to think that way.
> 
> “Alright, Louis and I can help look for a match on the registry,” Elsie said. “We can split it up in parts and that way we’ll get through it quicker.”

Chapter 10

If You Can't Find 'Em

#

By the time we walked through the doors into the lab all thoughts of our kiss in the elevator completely flew from our minds. Or rather it flew from mine. But I could tell that the kiss was the last thing on Elsie’s mind, too, since she made an immediate beeline toward Michael to ask if they had been able to pull enough from the DNA brought in by the Werewolf Control Unit in order to find a conclusive match from the werewolf registry. I headed toward where she stood with Michael just in time to hear him say that they had a full DNA strand, but so far hadn’t been able find a match. They had only managed to get a quarter through the registry so far, which meant there was still a seventy-five percent chance that it was a registered werewolf.  
  
If the werewolf wasn’t registered... Well, I didn’t want to think about that. None of us wanted to think that way.  
  
“Alright, Louis and I can help look for a match on the registry,” Elsie said. “We can split it up in parts and that way we’ll get through it quicker.”  
  
“Okay, then,” Michael said. “I’ll leave the pair of you to split it up amongst yourselves. Thomas just sent me a message to handle the press that has camped out in the lobby since the girl was brought in. The press is really going to have a field day with this attack.”  
  
“There may be protests against werewolves in society after this attack because it led to a death,” Elsie added. “It wouldn’t surprise me.”  
  
I was more listening to them than actually participating. My head was still reeling from being in the ER helping operate on the girl before she passed away. I knew I would witness death, but that doesn’t make actually witnessing it any better. In fact, it only made it worse because I thought I had mentally prepared myself for death. But of course I hadn’t.  
  
“It wouldn’t surprise me either,” Michael said. “But for now I really should get down to that waiting room before all those hungry reporters upset our patients.”  
  
“Good luck,” Elsie said before she turned to me. “Come on, Louis, let’s sit down before we plough through this list.”  
  
I followed her over to a desk in the corner. There were moving portraits of Elsie with, I’m assuming, her family and friends standing at angles surrounding the desk. There was also a cup full of an assortment of pens and quills, a couple inkwells next to it, and a stack of papers and folders piled in one corner. She sat down and immediately got to work, handing me the top half of the registry. I waited as she copied down the DNA on a blank piece of parchment.  
  
“If you find a match,” Elsie said, “come straight back over here and let me know.”  
  
I just gaped at her. I had been expecting us to huddle up at the same desk as we worked, but apparently not. Sighing, I headed toward my desk and sat down in the swivel chair before getting to business.  
  
It took me a few hours to get through my section, but only because my mind kept wandering.  
  
When I had finally finished looking through my list I headed back over toward Elsie’s desk. She looked up from what she had been writing on a sheaf of parchment with a peacock quill. All she did was shake her head before I could ask if she found a match. Apparently it was going to take catching the werewolf responsible before we discovered who it was.  
  
“I could really use a firewhiskey,” Elsie said, and before I could respond she had stood and addressed our fellow researchers, “Anyone up for a drink?”  
  
Everyone around me concurred with Elsie and before I knew it my hand was in Elsie’s as she pulled me out of the lab. I guess I didn’t get a say in whether I wanted to go to the pub or not. I had no choice in the matter.  
  
We took the lift down to the main floor to use the floo in the waiting area. There were still a few reporters milling about when we reached it, but they barely paid us any mind as they were nodding off in their chairs. Obviously it had been a busy night for the reporters on the job, too. I still say we had it harder than anyone tonight, though. The victim died after she had arrived at the hospital and was in our care.  
  
“Louis,” I turned to see Lily.  
  
“What do you want, Lily?”  
  
“An interview,” Lily said. “Please. I promise not to alter anything you say. I’ll be truthful to everything you tell me about what happened tonight with that little girl.”  
  
“What makes you think I was in the ER tonight?”  
  
“Well, were you?”  
  
I hesitated for only a fraction of a second. “I was.”  
  
“Then why not agree to do an interview with me.”  
  
“Lily, I really don’t want to talk about any of what happened tonight.”  
  
“But you will do the interview?”  
  
I had to give it to her, she was persistent. But Elsie was having none of it. I’m glad one of us could stand up to my family members.  
  
“Back off,” Elsie said. “The last thing any of us want to do is be reminded of what happened earlier tonight.”  
  
“Elsie, be nice,” Michael warned. But that only earned him a glare from her. “She has a job to do just like us. There’s no need to be crass.”  
  
All Elsie did was shrug her shoulders before heading toward the floo, pulling me along behind her. I wondered if this meant we were suddenly going out. Not sure how I felt about that considering we had only just shared a kiss while briefly trapped in the elevator. I mean I liked her, a lot, I really did. But I wasn’t sure whether I liked her enough to date her. Did I want to date her? I had no blimey clue and my head was hurting just thinking about it all.  
  
I let Elsie go through the floo first before I followed. Coughing as I stepped out of the fire grate at the Leaky Cauldron, I brushed the soot from me as best I could and followed Elsie toward the bar where Hannah was serving drinks. When I had reached the bar I noticed Frank sitting on a stool looking forlorn. I let the other researchers order their drinks as I took the stool next to him.  
  
“How’s it going, mate?”  
  
Frank looked up, startled at first from being pulled out of his trance. “Louis, I didn’t notice you come in. How was your night?”  
  
“Wretched,” I said. “I was called in to help in the Dai Llewellyn ER when the most recent victim was brought in and the little girl died on us. First death of this string of werewolf attacks, as well as the first death I had witnessed as a healer.”  
  
“That’s rotten.”  
  
“Yeah, it really is.”  
  
Frank sighed before looking back down at the gleaming top surface of the bar. He was obviously in a funk of a mood. I wondered if it had anything to do with Lily. I’m sure he would eventually get around to telling me when he was ready.  
  
“I ordered your drink, Louis,” Elsie said, handing me one of the mugs of firewhiskey she held. I took a large gulp, relaxing as it burned its way down my throat.  
  
Frank stared at the pair of us, perplexed. “Are you two together now?”  
  
“Erm,” I started, unsure of what to say. I didn’t want to be the first to call us a couple. It had only been a kiss and it had happened a few hours ago. It was all happening fast.  
  
“We’re just friendly co-workers,” Elsie said smoothly. “Since when did you have to be romantically involved with someone before you could buy them a drink?”  
  
“I suppose you don’t have to be with them,” Frank said, “but there’s something different about you now, an intimate vibe.”  
  
“Frank, I didn’t know you were going to be here,” a familiar voice shouted from across the room before Albus joined us. “I feel like it’s been ages since you’ve been over to family dinner. Lily says you’ve been busy with training.”  
  
At the mention of Lily, I noticed how Frank flushed before looking down to study the amber liquid contained within his tankard. I don’t know how obvious it was to others that Frank liked Lily, but I did know that Lily was completely oblivious. Albus was pretty smart, but I don’t think he suspected Frank of liking his sister. Too bad because I’m sure Albus would prefer Frank dating Lily instead of Lysander. Not that there was anything the matter with Lysander, just that he and Lily didn’t mesh well together.  
  
“You should be less of a stranger, mate,” Albus said, punching Frank’s upper arm. “Your parents are more social than you.”  
  
“Sorry,” Frank said. “I’ll make more of an effort.”  
  
“So, have you seen my sister around?” Albus said. “I’m supposed to be meeting up with her and Lysander.”  
  
“Nah, I haven’t seen her since earlier this week.”  
  
“I saw her,” I said. “Though not here. She was loitering in the lobby at the hospital with the other reporters. I swear the lobby is more like a playground for reporters on full moons anymore.”  
  
“Wait, that reporter is your sister,” Elsie said. “I’m so sorry.”  
  
“Sorry...?”  
  
“That you have such a pigheaded, pushy sister.”  
  
“Ah, she isn’t so bad,” Albus said. “She just gets into this role when she’s working. My mum has tried to tell her that she needs to tone down being aggressive, but she hasn’t listened yet.”  
  
I laughed. “She is so Aunt Ginny’s daughter.”  
  
“Don’t let my mum hear you say that,” Albus said. “But yeah, my dad says the same thing. Of course he doesn’t say it when mum’s within hearing distance.”  
  
“Al, there you are,” Lily said, coming over with a bounce in her step before she realised who he was with. “Nice, Al, I didn’t know you were going to invite anyone to crash. No offense, Louis, Frank.” She completely ignored Elsie and I had a feeling it wasn’t an accidental slight.  
  
Frank nodded toward her before glancing back into his tankard. Just watching him was depressing me.  
  
“Lily, you’ve met Elsie,” I said. “We work together in the lab.”  
  
Lily nodded before turning back to her brother. “Change of plans, it’s just us tonight.”  
  
“What happened to Lysander?”  
  
“Never mind him.”  
  
“Ah, Lily, you’re not going to pull me into your drama tonight, are you?”  
  
“Who said anything about drama?” Lily said. “It’s not my fault Lysander is a wanker.”  
  
“Frank, tell my sister she should just break up with Lysander once and for all,” Albus said. “Seriously, I’ve lost track of how many times the pair has broken up and gotten back together.”  
  
“Oh, shove off it,” Lily said, pushing him. “I can’t help that I love him, even if he is a jealous idiot, and he has no reason to be jealous.”  
  
“I still don’t see why you’re with him,” I said. “From all that I hear about him from Frank, I think you could do better.”  
  
“Not you, too, Louis.”  
  
I shut my mouth. She didn’t need me butting into her personal life; she had brothers and Frank for that. Though, Frank was unusually quiet right then. Usually I couldn’t shut him up when we talked over lunch at the hospital. There was something wrong and I thought I knew what it was, but I wasn’t about to call him out on it with the problem standing before us: Lily Luna Potter. Seriously, I loved her because she was my cousin, but the girl had a plethora of drama that I didn’t much want to ever be a part of.  
  
“I’m staying out of it,” I said, smartly.  
  
Lily rolled her eyes.  
  
“Smart man,” Albus said. “No one wants Lily drama following them around.”  
  
At that I covertly shot a glance toward Frank, who was still studying the contents of his glass without drinking anymore of it. He really had it bad for her. I had known about his feelings for Lily since we were all at Hogwarts, but I hadn’t known it was so bad that it was downright depressing to witness while each were in the other’s vicinities. It was so painstakingly obvious that he liked her more than she him in that moment that I was surprised Lily hadn’t cottoned on yet. She really was dim-witted.  
  
“At least Frank isn’t giving me a hard time,” Lily said, finally making note of her best friend in what might be assumed as a half-hearted greeting. She put one arm around him in a half hug and I watched as he returned the gesture before they separated. “How’s training?”  
  
Frank shrugged. “The paper?”  
  
“Crazy,” Lily said. “I’m still being treated like a rookie who can’t string words together in a coherent sentence despite being the best writer there. The editor-in-chief even told me in not so many words that I was the best.” She stuck her nose up haughtily as I’ve seen her do plenty of times; I’d come to calling it her proud stance as a matter of fact. “But enough of the work chatter, I feel like we haven’t had a proper sit down in _ages_.”  
  
“I’ve been busy,” Frank said, shifting on the bar stool so that he was facing her. “I don’t have much free time as of late with all the exams and practicals.”  
  
“And I can back him up,” I said. “Having gone through the same training he’s doing to become a healer now, I can tell you that it only gets more rigorous.”  
  
I figured I might as well help Frank out since I could tell he was drowning.  
  
“Oh, pish-posh,” Lily said. “You always made time to get together until the last few months, even when you had a lot going on.”  
  
Then it happened. I hadn’t expected it and I knew Albus nor Lily had been either, but it still happened. Frank completely snapped.  
  
“Maybe I don’t want to spend my down time listening to you complain about Lysander the whole blimey time.”  
  
Then, just when I thought Frank could have done nothing else to surprise me, he stood and stormed from the pub. All Albus and I could do was stand there gaping after him before turning to a slack-jawed Lily. Clearly this had been the first time Frank had yelled at her.  
  
Before I could get a word out in Frank’s defence, Elsie was dragging me off toward the table where our fellow healers were sitting. Like an idiot I let her. I should have planted my feet and refused to be carted off before I could throw words out at Lily. But as much as I wanted to I didn’t. Probably because I actually had no clue what I would actually say to Lily, despite wanting to tell her off.  
  
If only I wasn’t such a good friend. If I weren’t such a good keeper of secrets, then I would have marched back up to Lily and told her right then that Frank liked _liked_ her. But I am a good friend and didn’t turn back to tell Lily about Frank’s feelings. Sometimes I wished I didn’t always feel like I had to be the nice guy and say what was on my mind.  
  
#  
  
First thing on Monday morning I saw myself sitting down in a cafe in Diagon Alley with Hugo over tea and pastries. I wanted to find out if there was anything besides the DNA that had been found on the crime scene. But of course there hadn’t been. All I had to work with was the DNA strand and a fat lot of good that did me when the werewolf they were trying to catch was unregistered.  
  
It seemed like the only thing to do was to try and develop a cure for lycanthropy, but that was impossible. I mean, there might be a strand of possibility, but first I would have to study someone with lycanthropy versus someone without to figure out how different the genes of each are. But before I started researching I would have to garner enough support from the healing research team, which I probably won’t get since I’m still, basically, a novice. No way would any of the healers on the research board take my hypothesis seriously enough to help support my research to find a cure.  
  
I suppose I could always talk to Thomas about it first. If he thought I had enough steam to make it out the gate with such a flimsy hypothesis to pitch, then perhaps I could gain the support I needed. The odds were already stacked against me, what’s a few more to add to the lot.


	11. Crafting a Hypothesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Louis, if there’s anyone who’s on your side,” Thomas said, “it’s me. I know how brilliant of a healer you are and how hard you work. You should have been a Hufflepuff; you never blimey give up.”
> 
> I cracked a smile, running a hand through my already dishevelled red hair; I’d been forgoing brushing my hair as of late.

Chapter 11

Crafting a Hypothesis

#

For the next couple weeks I was sent on a whirl-wind, trying with fail to convince the Healers’ Research Board that my hypothesis was worth supporting. I felt so defeated and was just about ready to give up when Thomas called me into his office when I arrived for my shift in Accidental on a Thursday morning. I prayed I wasn’t in trouble. I hadn’t had a full conversation with Thomas since the full moon when we lost that little girl in the ER, not that that actually counts as a conversation, though.  
  
“You wanted to see me,” I said, opening his office door the rest of the way, albeit hesitatingly.  
  
“Yes, I did,” Thomas said. “I heard about what you’ve been trying to do yesterday over lunch with a colleague of mine that’s on the Research Board.”  
  
I swallowed. “I see.”  
  
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Thomas asked. “I could help. All I need is to go over your hypothesis and the steps you plan to take toward the conclusion.”  
  
“Honestly, I thought you’d just lecture me about how I still have lots to learn and that was the last thing I wanted to hear.”  
  
“Louis, if there’s anyone who’s on your side,” Thomas said, “it’s me. I know how brilliant of a healer you are and how hard you work. You should have been a Hufflepuff; you never blimey give up.”  
  
I cracked a smile, running a hand through my already dishevelled red hair; I’d been forgoing brushing my hair as of late.  
  
“Now let’s see that hypothesis.”  
  
“Yes, sir,” I said. “Let me just go grab it from my desk in the lab.”  
  
I hastened out of the office, holding myself back from what I really wanted to do, which was sprint down the hall to the labs. Cripes, forget wanting to appear calm and collected. The moment I was out of the outer office of Thomas’s secretary and in the hall, I started running as quickly as my scrawny legs would let me until I was within around ten feet from the lab.  
  
Acting as cool and dignified as I could, I entered and headed straight to my desk and took out my wand to unlock the enchantments I had placed on it to protect the integrity of my hard work being stolen from a colleague.  
  
Once I had the folder that contained all of my well-thought out notes, I headed back out of the lab toward Thomas’s office without paying the few healers who were sitting at their desks any mind. The only thought in my mind was getting back to Thomas’s office and, hopefully, garnering his support. If I could get Thomas on my side, well, then I’d be able to get a definitive yes out of the board.  
  
But as I was walking out of the lab, who should walk in but Elsie. I mentally cursed. Of course she had to walk in at just the moment I was walking out. Life really was complicating and unjustifiable. Now I would be forced to interact before I could get back to Thomas with my notes. Blimey, time just wasn't on my side.  
  
“Louis, I haven't seen you all week,” Elsie said, smiling. “Where have you been hiding?”  
  
“Nowhere,” I said. “I mean, I've been around, just been busy.”  
  
I kept looking ahead, over Elsie's shoulder, and I guess she could sense my anxiety because she looked back at the partially opened door that led out into the sterile white hallway. I tried to feel bad at not giving her my full attention, while at the same time all I that was on my mind was Thomas being on my side.  
  
“Looking for someone?”  
  
My attention was brought back to an angry looking Elsie.  
  
“Or can you just not wait to escape me,” Elsie said. “Maybe the reason I haven't seen you all week is you're avoiding me.”  
  
I gasped, flabbergasted. I had not been avoiding Elsie, while at the same time I had no ready made excuse for her and I didn't want to tell her about my hypothesis for finding a cure for lycanthropy. Her response would surely be a negative one. I mean, Elsie seemed like a fairly positive person, but I'm sure she would be sceptical like everyone on the Research Board. It was basically me against the entirety of the wizarding world; the weight on my shoulders seemed too great for me to bear alone, but I would have to deal.  
  
“You know, if you don't want to be in a relationship with me, then all you had to do was tell me.”  
  
“A relationship,” I said, my voice croaking. “Is that what we are now?”  
  
“Well, it's where I thought we were heading after our kiss in the elevator.”  
  
“Yeah, about that,” I said. “Elsie, I--”  
  
“Save your breath,” Elsie said, brushing her shoulder into mine as she walked past.  
  
Blimey hell, I thought. Now I had to deal with this before I could get back to Thomas. I really wasn't up for trying to understand girls tonight. I mean, I didn't want her upset with me, but I had no idea what she wanted out of me. I did like her. Correction, I liked her a lot. But I had a lot on my plate right now. There wasn't enough time in the day to add girlfriend into the mix of all of my responsibilities. It was overwhelming and I thought Elsie would understand that since she was a healer, too. Apparently I had thought wrong.  
  
Stealing on last glance at Elsie over my shoulder, I regretfully turned away and pushed the door the rest of the way open before stepping out of the lab. It would have to wait until later. Right now Thomas was waiting on me and his support backing my hypothesis meant more right then. I would make it up to her somehow. Not sure how, but I was determined to show her that I still respected her as a friend at the very least. Even if it doesn't work out between us, well I still wanted to be friends. Her encouragement helped me where others in the lab seemed to doubt me as a competent healer and researcher. I needed all the support I could get, what with my low self-esteem in my abilities. It sometimes surprised me at how much I doubted myself when I look back at all that I've accomplished. Almost seems like another person had passed all these great milestones.  
  
I felt like I was walking my doom as I headed back to Thomas's office. What he thought and said had the power to make or break my hypothesis. Suddenly I was nervous. I mean, I had been nervous when I had propositioned my hypothesis to the Researching Board of Healers, but that was different somehow. Thomas was more than a supervisor to me. He was a mentor.  
  
If he shut down my hypothesis, then it would be like a door slamming in my face. I would lose my determination. Or at least I feared I would.  
  
“Took you long enough,” Thomas said as I entered. “I was afraid you had left.”  
  
“Nope, still here.”  
  
“Well, let's see, then.”  
  
Swallowing back my fear, I handed the folder with all my hard work over to Thomas to tear apart because surely that would be what would happen. He could either make or break it, and the chances of him breaking it were stronger. I was still fairly green when it came to healing, especially researching.  
  
I watched as Thomas opened the folder that I had treated as though it were my life for the past week. He stared thoughtfully at the pages and I tried to keep a positive head as I waited.  
  
“Not bad,” Thomas said.  
  
That was all he said. Nothing more. I tried to will him with my mind to say more. I wanted to know what was going through his head. But he didn't say anything else. All he did was continue reading the pages I had scribbled on in dark green ink. It always amazed me when other healers were able to read my handwriting as I could remember being scolded by the professors at Hogwarts for my sloppy penmanship.  
  
After several painstaking minutes, Thomas finally closed the folder and looked up at me. His slight smile was encouraging, though I still couldn't help but feel doubtful for what he would say.  
  
“You make some pretty solid estimations in your notes,” Thomas said, and I could feel the _but_ coming. “But on the whole it isn't as together as it should be. Right now it all resembles untwined strings.”  
  
I nodded, defeated.  
  
“But that doesn't mean you should give up,” Thomas said. “In fact, I encourage you to renew your efforts to solidifying the foundation more. It'll all come together once you piece it all together. All you have to do is tweak your hypothesis.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess I can do that,” I said. “Anything else?”  
  
“Well, nothing for me to add, but you might want to talk to Michael.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Because he's about to start going through the hospital's files to see if we can't pull up a DNA match on a werewolf since there wasn't a match in the werewolf registry.”  
  
“Do you think he'll find anything?”  
  
“I'm not sure,” Thomas said. “He might. I mean, it's not like St. Mungo's, or any hospital, registers werewolves as it's actually the werewolf's responsibility to get registered with the Ministry of Magic's Werewolf Control Unit. I can only assume other wizarding hospitals run on the same policies with their ministries as we do.”  
  
“Alright, I'll talk to Michael,” I said. “I think he's overseeing the fourth floor anyway today, which is where I'm scheduled.”  
  
“Ah, yes, Healer Fuller did mention that she liked you in Accidental Spell Damage,” Thomas said. “She didn't want to believe me when I told her that was your best area of practice when you became certified. I'm glad she came around, but you know you're the reason she came around since you stuck it out and proved yourself to her.”  
  
I nodded. “I should be heading to Spell Damage now,” I said.  
  
“Alright,” Thomas said. “Keep me updated on your research and I'll help you out the next time you go up against the Board.”  
  
Nodding once more, I stood and left the office. Instead of taking my research back to the lab, I decided to just put it in my locker under countless enchantments before taking the elevator down to the fourth floor. I hadn't been avoiding Elsie purposefully before, but now I was. I didn't need the distraction, nor the drama. I would talk to her after I had a finalized hypothesis.  
  
I helped several patients before I saw Michael coming out of the main station at the end of a hall when I was leaving a private room; the patient inside was purple with green polka dots and it was being pushed off as accidental magic by their young son. It had taken all my self-restraint not to laugh.  
  
“Louis,” Michael said when I approached him. “How're you doing, mate?”  
  
“Alright,” I said. “Thomas told me to talk to you. About the lab research for finding the werewolf.” I felt like I was rambling. I probably was. “He said you were looking for matches in the hospital's registry now.”  
  
“I am,” Michael said.  
  
“Well, I'm actually trying to develop a hypothesis that will pass the Board in order to concoct a cure.”  
  
“Nice,” Michael said. “That's hard work. Not many people have decided to specialize in lycanthropy, mainly because it's so hard. Not to mention everything has to be exact, or it's no good. We only have a couple brewers who can successfully concoct the Wolf Bane's potion; have you tried making that yet? Wait, you probably did in training.”  
  
I nodded. “I succeeded after several botched attempts.”  
  
“And you're just telling me this,” Michael said, eyes widening. “I've been hoping to promote a few more healers to brew potions for the past few months to no avail.”  
  
“I'm really not a potion brewer,” I said. “I mean, I excel at brewing potions, but I just don't have the patience for it.”  
  
“Don't have the patience,” Michael repeated dubiously, “And you want to develop a forumula to cure lycanthropy?”  
  
“That would be different,” I said.  
  
“I suppose,” Michael said. “That is if you limit yourself to only concocting experimental potions. But you know it would serve you better to just become a brewer, even if it's only a day a week, for the extra practice in brewing potions that are definite, from Pepper-Up to Wolf's Bane and so forth.”  
  
“I guess you make a good point.”  
  
Michael raised his brow. “Does that mean you'll consider the offer?”  
  
“Offer?”  
  
“Promotion to brewer,” Michael said. “At least one day a week in the Brewer's lab.”  
  
I shrugged.  
  
“At least think about and let me know.”  
  
“I'll think about it.”  
  
“Now, about that werewolf,” Michael said, getting us back on topic.  
  
I ended up following him into the main station to discuss how he was going about to find the werewolf who had attacked a different child for the past few months. We talked for near an hour before parting due to an influx of patients that had arrived with Spell Damage crisises. One thing you never had to worry about on the fourth floor was down time. It was the one of the main reasons I preferred working in Spell Damage. You rarely, if ever, had to do mind-numbing busy work to fill in the gaps between healing patients.  
  
By the end of my shift I was knackered. I quite literally collapsed on my bed in a heap of limps, not even bothering to change out of his healer robes. I had completely fell into an REM sleep within seconds, well maybe not seconds but definitely less than five minutes. I never had trouble sleeping. The only problem I had was finding the time to sleep.  
  
#  
  
There was a pounding noise coming from the living room. A couple minutes of blinking my eyes in an attempt to wake up allowed me to decipher that someone was knocking on the door. We rarely ever had guests at the flat. Rubbing the back of my head – mussing my hair to cause it to stick up with the action – I made my way down the hall and across the living room to answer the door.  
  
I received a surprise upon opening it when it was none other than my mum standing on the other side, and she looked mighty stern with her hands on her hips – clearly adopting that stance from Nana Molly. Both of them had the ability to instantly feel like I had done something wrong even though I'm pretty sure I hadn't done anything to warrant getting in trouble. At least I didn't think I had. I racked my brain trying to figure out why my mum could be here in front of me, angry, but came up with nothing.  
  
“Did I do something wrong?”  
  
“Louis Alexander Weasley,” my mum said. “Why haven't you responded to my owls?”  
  
I stared at her. Owls. She was stomping angrily into my flat because I hadn't responded back to her owls. Is it not enough that I've been too busy to think straight? Blimey women in my life demanding contact. First Elsie, now my mum. I just kept messing up with women today.  
  
“Don't just stand there, gapping at me. I know you have better manners than that.”  
  
I closed my mouth because I had been gapping at her. “I've been busy.”  
  
“That's no excuse.”  
  
“I also haven't opened any scrolls from you.”  
  
My mum marched through the room and across the hall into the kitchen. It only took seconds before she was stomping back over with tightly furled parchments in hand, waving them in my face so I could clearly see my name etched in ink on all of them.  
  
“They were just sitting on the table,” my mum said. “You'd think you would've seen them when you ate your meals over the past fortnight.”  
  
“Yeah, about that,” I said, instantly regretting it when she threw me a scolding look that caused me to jump into overdrive to explain. “I've actually been eating more at the hospital.”  
  
“That's not food,” my mum said, her French accent even more pronounced now that she was livid. “You're coming over for dinner tonight.”  
  
It was an order. There would be no talking myself out of going over tonight, especially since she was likely not to leave unless I agreed to leave with her. I loved my mum, but sometimes she pestered me way too much. I wished she'd fuss over my sisters a bit more; it would shift some of the attention she focused on me.  
  
“All right, I'll go,” I said.  
  
She kept staring at me as if waiting for something.  
  
When I didn't say anything she snapped. “What are you waiting for? You're father is already home and supper is just about ready.”  
  
“Can't I change out of my healer robes first?”  
  
“Go on, then,” she nodded in the direction of the bedrooms, still not making any move to floo or apparate.  
  
Sighing, I went back to my room and changed into some muggle jeans and t-shirt before coming back. Having cotton on to what she was on about, I grabbed a pinch of floo powder from the pot on the mantel and tossed it in. “Shell Cottage,” I said as I stepped in after the flames had burst green. A few seconds after I stepped out of my parents' fireplace, my mum was following closely behind.  
  
“Hullo, Louis,” my dad said from his perch on the sofa, a copy of the _Evening Prophet_ in hand. “Nice of you to join us. Are you staying for dinner?”  
  
“Looks that way,” I said. “I mean, do I really have a say in the matter?”  
  
All he did was look at me pointedly.  
  
“Figured as much,” I said.  
  
“You know how your mum is.”  
  
I nodded as I collapsed next to him on the couch. I spent the rest of the evening talking to my parents about nothing and everything at the same time over dinner and, after, tea. Basically I told them about working, but I purposefully left out the major detail of looking for a cure for lycanthropy. I knew they would be supportive – to supportive – but I couldn't handle the prospect of _failing_ , never mind telling them, later on down the road. It was better this way. There was a fine line when it came to intertwining family and work, and I was not about to cross it just yet until I was positive.  
  
Over the next few days I would find that equations were more involved in the hypothesizing process than I had originally thought. One does not simply throw words haphazardly in paper format to appear like they knew what they were going to research, no they actually did the math. It was a good thing I had been so good in Potions or I would have given up just a few hours of struggling through my notes. And then good news arrived in all its furriness when I went in to put in some hours in the lab on Tuesday: Michael had succeeded in tracking down the werewolf's DNA by subpoenaing magical hospital files. Now the only problem we had was where the werewolf was hiding.


	12. Some Family Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Louis, it's great to see you,” Nana Molly said. “It really has been much too long. Let's take a look at you.”
> 
> I stood in front of her as she lifted my arms out to the side to inspect me, or rather my weight.
> 
> “Much too thin,” Nana Molly said. “And bags under your eyes, too. That won't do, no not one bit. Come, I'll fix you a plate with extra helpings.”

Chapter 12

Some Family Time

#

I spent more hours in the lab than I had when I had first been promoted, though I was doing my own work instead of what the others were doing. Though, admittedly there was nothing left for the team to do. The result ended with less hours clocked in lab time for all the researchers a part of it. All except for me since I used my additional lab hours to work on my notes.  
  
A good thing about the identity of the werewolf being found in old hospital records was that Elsie was rarely ever in the lab anymore. I still ran into her in the halls when I was on floor duty. But for the most part we usually worked on separate floors. I know, I know, I shouldn’t be avoiding her, but technically I wasn't. At least that was what I was telling myself. And I really was keeping busy. I was so close to nailing down my lycanthropy research that I barely wanted to go home to sleep.  
  
My friends were worried about me. I guess mainly because I hadn't been out for drinks with them in weeks, but the full moon was rapidly approaching again. Each day that passed had me renewing my vigour at finding a cure so that I could begin brewing and testing.  
  
Speaking of brewing. Michael had asked me a couple more times before I accepted his offer of becoming a brewer. It would only be part-time, but it gave me unrestricted – and unlimited – access to the brewer's quarters. Knowing the enchantments in would serve as highly useful for when I would need to begin experimenting with different formulas while using the basis of the Wolf Bane's potion.  
  
So far, since dinner at Shell Cottage, my mum had sent me a few owls. Knowing she would more than likely show up at my flat, I had dutifully responded back with prompt and sufficient replies. I wasn't going to give her another reason to show up unannounced. She had also informed me that I was to go to Nana Molly's for brunch on Saturday as the rest of the Weasley-Potter clan would be there. Apparently Nana Molly was annoyed that barely anyone had been stopping in to visit and she was growing restless with impatience. I had wanted to use Saturday, especially since I was off the whole day and night, to do more research on lycanthropy, but there really was no arguing with my mum, nor Nana Molly.  
  
That was how I found myself apparating to St. Ottery Catchpole at noon on Saturday. I figured if I got there relatively early, I'd be able to slip out after a couple hours. If I could escape that was, I thought. Chances were I wouldn't be able to get away to return back to the hospital's medical library to do further research due to my mum keeping an eye on me the whole time I was at the burrow.  
  
“Louis, it's great to see you,” Nana Molly said. “It really has been much too long. Let's take a look at you.”  
  
I stood in front of her as she lifted my arms out to the side to inspect me, or rather my weight.  
  
“Much too thin,” Nana Molly said. “And bags under your eyes, too. That won't do, no not one bit. Come, I'll fix you a plate with extra helpings.”  
  
“I'm actually fine right now, Nana.”  
  
“Nonsense,” Nana Molly said, clucking her tongue. “Your parents are here already, they're in the kitchen. Your mum's been fretting over whether you'd actually remember to show or not.”  
  
I heaved a sigh that felt more weighty than relieving. Just a couple hours, that was all I had to stay before I could get back to my half-baked hypothesis.  
  
“Oh, good, you're here,” my mum said, leaning through the doorway into the kitchen to speak to my father. “Bill, he made it. And he looks exhausted and worn down.”  
  
“You need a hair cut,” Nana Molly said, pulling my attention from my mum. “And please don't tell me you fancy growing it into a ponytail like your father started to do when he was around your age.”  
  
“I'm not, Nana,” I said. “I just keep forgetting to get it trimmed. I'd magic it myself, but I don't trust myself not to ruin it.”  
  
“Hair grows back,” Nana Molly said. “Also, I'll trim you up after brunch.”  
  
I nodded, not up for telling Nana that I would be ditching out right after we eat.  
  
“So, uh, where are the others?”  
  
“In the garden,” my dad said, entering the kitchen. “They started a game of quidditch just now, you should join them.”  
  
“I was never much of a player, dad,” I said. “You know that.”  
  
“Yes, but you don't have to be good to play for fun.”  
  
I shrugged before heading out through the door that led into the backyard. I noticed most of my cousins flying around on broomsticks in the garden, but on the patio sat Victoire, Molly, Hugo, and Lucy. I sat down in one of the vacated chairs.  
  
“Louis, how have you been?” Molly said. “I feel like I haven't seen you in ages.”  
  
“I've been good, just busy at the hospital.”  
  
“Oh, yeah, I've heard about the attacks on a different child each month. That's so wretched.”  
  
“Yeah,” I said. “But how about you? How are you and Finn? And Delilah?”  
  
“Great,” Molly said, practically glowing despite the tiredness of her smile. “She's been sleeping better the past few months now. Finn is inside changing her nappy right now, should be back out any minute.”  
  
Out of all of my cousins, Molly was definitely my favourite. Both of us had always preferred books over quidditch and had decided to stick together against the rest of the rowdy clan. She was older, but didn't treat me like a kid. To her we had always been equal. I also looked up to her because she was the type of person who would go after what she wanted to do, damn the coincidences. Though she had admitted to me that she regretted walking away from Finn when the pair of them had graduated, but it had all worked out in the end since they were now married with a six-month-old daughter. She had also been one of the few people who had been there to encourage me to keep with my training when it got harder in the final year before I started my Supervised Hours with Thomas. She had just moved to Egypt with Finn, but was still making an effort to come back every weekend to visit family. She had gotten better at keeping in contact when she and Finn got back together and she had decided not to go back to Australia.  
  
“Great, can't wait to see how big she's gotten,” I said. I liked kids, really, I did. I actually wanted some later on down the road, but first I had to meet the woman I'd fall in love with enough to want to marry and have said kids with. So far I hadn't felt much more than intense like for a girl.  
  
“Louis, you aren't growing your hair out long, are you?” Victoire asked, scrutinizing me with piercing blue eyes. “Because if you are, it really isn't the look for you.”  
  
“Shove off, Vic,” I said. “I've just been too busy to get it trimmed.”  
  
“You know it doesn't take much to magic a couple inches off.”  
  
I glared at her. I didn't want to get into an argument over my hair. Couldn't she just not nitpick for one afternoon. And it was my hair. I'd cut it or grow it out if I wanted, and there was nothing she would be able to do about it.  
  
“I like his hair,” Lucy said. “It's very rugged in a manly kind of way. Makes him look older.”  
  
Molly raised her brow. “I thought you forced Lorcan to trim his hair every month to keep it cleanly cut.”  
  
“I do, but that's only because he can't pull off the shaggy look,” Lucy said. “He doesn't have the right mannerisms. Lysander can pull off shaggy, though.”  
  
“They're twins,” Molly said, dumbfounded.  
  
“But you can still tell them apart.”  
  
“I can't,” I said.  
  
“Hullo, guys,” Lily said, collapsing in a lawn chair beside mine.   
  
“You weren't playing for very long,” Hugo said to her. “What happened?”  
  
“James happened,” Lily seethed. “He is such a quaffle hog. He thinks just because he's a big shot quidditch player for Appleby that he gets to call the plays. It's insufferable and sucks all the fun out of the game.”  
  
“Did you really expect any more of James, Lily?” Victoire said. “He's always been that way, even while he was still at Hogwarts playing on the Gryffindor team.”  
  
“I'm back,” Finn said, shutting the door behind him and walking over to hand Delilah over to Molly before taking the seat next to her, kissing her lightly on the lips in the process.  
  
As much as it was nice to see two people in love, all it did was remind me that I still hadn't found someone for myself. I wasn't bitter, not by a long shot. I just didn't care to be reminded what I was missing.  
  
“Alright you two, enough before we lose our appetites,” Hugo said, “and I don't think Nana would like that very much.”  
  
Everyone chuckled at that comment.  
  
“So, Louis, how's life at St. Mungo's treating you?” Lily asked once the laughter had died down.  
  
“All right,” I said. “Busy, but all right.”  
  
“Have you seen Frank lately?”  
  
“Nah, I've been busy researching for a project,” I said. “Why? Have you not seen him in a while?”  
  
“Not sense we were all at the Leaky Cauldron on the full moon.”  
  
“Have you tried Floo'ing him?”  
  
“Floo'ing, owling, you name it I've tried it,” Lily said. “I think he's avoiding me, but for the life of me I can't imagine why. He's never been angry at me for this long.”  
  
“Whoa, what did you do to Frank,” Hugo asked. “He's like the most laid back mate I know.”  
  
“What makes you think it was me that did something to him?”  
  
Hugo just gave her a look.  
  
“Honest, Hugo,” Lily said. “I didn't do a thing.”  
  
“Actually,” I said, but then stopped myself. I shouldn't get into it. Frank needed to tell her himself; he didn't need me fighting his battles for him.  
  
“Yes, Louis,” Lily said, latching on like a Cornish Pixie and refusing to let go. “You were going to say?”  
  
“I was, but I'm not anymore,” I said. “Frank's my friend and I'm not about to betray him by telling you what I know.”  
  
“So you do know something.”  
  
“Lily, he said he isn't going to say anything,” Molly said, gently bouncing Delilah to sleep in her arms. “You'll just have to wait until Frank wants to talk to ask him yourself.”  
  
“Since when did you get sensible,” Lily said, glaring.  
  
“Lily,” Victoire scolded, she had always played mother hen, even when we were kids. One look could send us retreating back into our shells and it still worked right then on Lily.  
  
Then Nana Molly opened the door and a floating bell zoomed out and over the yard, ringing the whole time before returning back to her outstretched hand,  
  
“Food is ready,” Nana Molly said. “Come and get it before it gets cold.”  
  
Everyone in the garden touched down and started heading up to the house as we stood from our chairs to beat them to the food. But still Remus beat us all by running up and past us. That kid had so much energy.  
  
“Uncle Lou,” Remus said, latching onto my leg when he noticed me.  
  
“Hey, little man,” I said, peeling him from my leg and lifting him into my arms. “How've you been? Behaving for your mum and dad, I hope.”  
  
“Yes!”  
  
“That's good to hear.”  
  
“Mummy said you might not show,” Remus said. “I'm glad she ended up wrong. Why haven't you come over?”  
  
“I've been busy at work, buddy,” I said. “But I'll try to make more of an effort to visit my favourite nephew.”  
  
“I'm your only nephew, Uncle Lou,” Remus said solemnly.  
  
“Maybe now, but what about when your mum has the baby?”  
  
“But she doesn't know what it is yet.”  
  
“No, but it could be your baby brother, then I'd have two nephews and you'd still be my favourite because I've known you longer.”  
  
The next hour passed by in a blur of activity and chatter as everyone ate what was on their plate. Nana Molly had made good on her promise of making my plate and I ended up with double what I could actually eat. I had never been a huge eater like my male cousins. It definitely was because I hadn't played a sport like quidditch. I mean, I did go through growth spurts and eat quite a bit, but never to the extent of say James, Al, or Hugo. But Nana seemed to think I had gone through their stage of eating everything within sight because that's exactly what she had put on my plate. She even put tomato on my omelet. I hated tomato, always have and always will.  
  
“Louis.”   
  
I looked over my shoulder at the sound of my name to find my mum standing there. “There's a bit of an emergency at the hospital,” she said, and I could tell she hadn't wanted to be the bearer of this news. “Thomas fire called and your Papa was there to answer. Apparently there is an influx of patients on the fourth floor and they need some extra healers. He said something about an incident on a muggle street that affected mostly muggles.”  
  
I took one last swig of my pumpkin juice to wash down the last bite of cheesy omelet before pushing my chair away from the table to stand.  
  
“Hopefully you'll be done in the next couple hours to come back here before everyone leaves.”  
  
“Yeah, maybe,” I said, doubting it as the words left my mouth.  
  
I made my apologies to the rest of the family before bowing out and heading across the hall into the living room where the fire place was. I took a pinch of floo powder and tossed it in. “St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries,” I enunciated clearly after stepping into the grate. Green flames engulfed and carried me away before spitting me out in the lobby of St. Mungo's. I breezed through the crowd like a professional and reached the lifts all in one piece.  
  
After I had stepped into a lift, just as the doors were closing someone squeezed in to join me. That someone was Elsie. I hadn't spoken to her since the day I had initially shown Thomas my notes. Needless to say, the ride up to the fourth floor was incredibly awkward. I'm usually used to awkward since that was what I was the majority of the time, but the type of awkward that befell us as we rode the lift was more than I could bear. Yet I didn't want to say anything to risk angering Elsie anymore than she had been on that day. If she had anything to say to me, then she would have to start the conversation.  
  
Apparently she felt the same because she stared haughtily at the golden grilles of the lift as it whooshed down, stopping at each floor. But on its way from the third to the fourth, Elsie reached out and hit the emergency stop button. You know, for how different muggles and wizards were, some of the mechanics were quite similar, making them more alike than they could ever know. I only knew this because my aunt Hermione was a muggle-born and advocated for muggles, house-elves, and anyone else who couldn't use their voice to defend themselves in the Ministry of Magic; she was constantly going on about her latest project at family gatherings. I had been able to gather over today's lunch that she was again working on opening up more rights for house-elves since she said you had to agree to little changes before bringing up the subject of more freedom for a group of individuals that didn’t particularly want freedom for themselves later on down the road in an attempt to avoid conflict.  
  
“Now you're avoiding me.”  
  
“Can you really blame me?”  
  
“Yeah, I can, actually,” Elsie said. “You may not have been avoiding me before, but ever since you have completely changed tune. Would it really be so horrible if we started dating?”  
  
I just stared at her, unable to process what she had said. Here I thought she had stopped the lift to give me a lecture, not ask me out. Or whatever it was she was doing. I had not anticipated our next conversation happening like this.  
  
“Clearly you think it would judging by your silence.”  
  
“No,” I said, “I mean, I'm just speechless. I hadn't realised you felt this way. I mean, I guess we could try this thing between us out.”  
  
“You guess?”  
  
“I honestly haven't thought much about that kiss.”  
  
“Obviously there's no point dating if you don't feel the same,” Elsie said, steaming. “Whatever, Louis, do whatever you blimey well want, but I'm not about to jump into something just to wind up with a broken heart. I don't just date anyone, y'know.”  
  
“Yeah, I figured.”  
  
Elsie hit the emergency button, causing the lift to jolt before making its ascend. “Then don't expect me to wait around forever for you. I'm tired of waiting. I'm ready for a real, honest to Merlin relationship.”  
  
I was about to respond, though I couldn't tell you what words would have come out of my mouth even at the time. Maybe my mouth would have just flapped open and closed a few times, like a fish out of water. Either way, the lift grilles chose that moment to open and Elsie stomped out first and was already halfway down the hall, walking briskly away from me and any future we could have together, before I even stepped out of the lift.  
  
So far only a few patients had been placed in private rooms, but no one else. Michael explained the situation to me the best he could in a few short minutes that made my head feel as though it were whirring around in circles like a trapped snitch. From my understanding, Werewolf Control had been after someone, who had escaped into muggle London from Diagon Alley, and that wizard had cast a spell behind his back as he ran in an attempt to forestall the officers. None of the healers had been told anything specific, just these bare facts. Makes you wonder whether the wizard they had been after was the elusive werewolf. I mean, they knew the werewolf's identity now, thanks to Michael's brilliant detective work of combing through past hospital records.  
  
Shaking my head, I turned on my heel and started toward the room I had been instructed to see to. We had to treat muggles separately, which meant bringing them up, in their confuddled states, one at a time to single rooms on the fourth floor to reverse the charms and heal them. Sometimes it took several minutes to hours just to get a muggle to trust that you were there to help cure them. I've only healed a couple muggles so I understood the protocol we had in place, but my recollection was vague.   
  
But when I reached the room it was to discover Elsie was already in there. Apparently they thought I needed babysitting or practice, or whatever the blimey they thought I needed. I had no patience for it and I definitely was dreading being stuck in this room with Elsie for hours as patients were ushered in and out by the Healing Technicians.  
  
“Seriously,” Elsie said. “You've got to be kidding me.”  
  
“I'm no more happy about this than you.”  
  
“Oh, I'm so sorry.”  
  
But I could tell from her tone that she was far from sorry. Her body language also told me to stay away as she turned her back to me and continued her evaluation of the patient. I took a few steps hesitatingly forward, enough to see what the problem was; the patient had spouted an extra hand that was coming out of his chest and it was wiggling its long, thin fingers. I shivered.  
  
Elsie looked over her shoulder at me before turning back. “I know you aren't suddenly going all scrimmage on me, Weasley.”  
  
“Oh, so we're resorting to surnames now,” I said. “Don't you think that's just a tad juvenile, Short?”  
  
“Clearly you don't since you had no trouble using my surname.”  
  
I could make out the slight upward tilt of her mouth in profile as I inched closer. She was jerking my wand. I don't know how I thought knowing she was teasing instead of being serious. Only minutes before she was telling me off for avoiding her, and now it was as if we were the best of chums again. Had I stepped through a continuum portal that had thrown me back in time? I thought.  
  
“I thought you were mad at me.”  
  
“We're adults, Louis,” Elsie said, “and we work together. We're going to have to get over ourselves and find some sort of semblance to be able to work together in a civilised manner.”  
  
“Yes, but I thought--” I started, but she interrupted me.  
  
“You thought I would continue giving you the cold shoulder,” Elsie said without turning away from the patient. She had released blue wisps from her wand that were circling the extra hand, caressing it. It looked like something straight from a horror novel. “You should give me more credit than you do. I got what I wanted to say off my chest, now I'm moving past it. Past you.”  
  
I nodded, numb. I wasn't sure whether this meant we were friends again or just amicable colleagues. Somehow I thought it was the latter since friends still seemed unlikely.  
  
“Now, if you don't mind, I could really use your help.”  
  
Shaking to clear my head, I did as she instructed and soon we had finished with the patient, only to gain another as the Healer Technician put another weary muggle in our custody before taking the one we had healed away. We spent the rest of the afternoon like that, huddled together over patient after patient, until all the muggles had been healed. After Michael said we were both free to go since we had been brought in off-duty.  
  
But now that I was here, I wasn't about to let an opportunity to get some hours in the lab down pass me by. Without saying anything to Elsie, I headed in the opposite directions to take a separate lift because I figured the last thing she wanted was to end up trapped in a silent lift with me.  
  
Maybe I'd write her a letter or something. Maybe that'd help me decipher these feelings I was experiencing toward her. Or maybe I'd just toss everything that had transpired between us and start fresh. I bet she wouldn't argue with wanting a fresh start.


	13. Falling Into Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was heading down to the main lobby to use the floo network. But I was pulled from behind as I reached out to pinch some of the shimmering powder that rested on the mantle over the fireplace. Before I could look behind to see who had grabbed hold of me, I felt the familiar sensation of being pushed through a tight tube before the invisible bands broke free.

Chapter 13

Falling Into Place

#

It turned out that incident in the street was caused when a group of Werewolf Control undercover workers who were tailing the suspect believed to have turned those children (killing one), had decided to ambush said suspect. It was unclear as to why they had ambushed him, but all the wizard news outlets have speculated further on the matter over the last couple days. I was as curious as the next wizard, but my curiosity didn't outweigh my priorities. First of which was taking on brewer tasks in addition to healing and researching. All that I knew was that they, the Werewolf Control Unit and Aurors, had taken the suspect into custody after quite the chase that had resulted in numerous muggles becoming injured. I wasn’t sure if they had gotten any information out of the suspect since nothing had been leaked yet, but there had been no attacks a couple nights after the arrest during the full moon.  
  
Michael had told me I would be starting small by brewing pepper-up, hangover solution, and so on until I could prove my worth among the other brewers. I wasn't complaining in the slightest. The less time I spent stirring potions, the more I could spend researching the properties of Wolfsbane. If I could figure out what it was that made the transformation less painful, then perhaps it could help lead to a cure.  
  
At the moment I was stuck brewing potions that needed stocking up on in the medicinal closets. The fumes from the ingredients were starting to addle my brain by the time I had finished up, resulting in my leaving shortly thereafter. But instead of going home, I went straight to the lab to muddle through all of my notes. I was slumped at my desk for a couple hours before I had a light bulb moment. I finally had my hypothesis. It seemed so simple now that I wondered why it had taken me so long to think of it.  
  
It wasn’t precisely hypothesizing a cure, but rather a treatment that worked toward a cure. I had gotten the idea from cancer patients going through chemo. Of course, there was a different treatment plan for wizards with cancer than that of muggles who had it. But that was beside the point. The point being that I finally had my hypothesis. All that was left to do was propositioning it to the Healing Board all over again and hope they liked this hypothesis better than the first.  
  
They ended up going for it.   
  
I couldn’t believe it. The Healing Board actually was agreeing with something that I hypothesized. Something that I had come up with all on my own.  
  
The next week I spent most of my time in the brewers’s quarters concocting together a treatment. Or at least what I hoped would result in a treatment that could lead to a cure. I was using the basis of the Wolfsbane to start out, then adding more of a few of the ingredients. For instance, I added in more aconite since I had discovered through extensive research that that was what eased the pain of the transformation.  
  
I was too exhausted by the end of the week to trust myself to apparate safely home so I was heading down to the main lobby to use the floo network. But I was pulled from behind as I reached out to pinch some of the shimmering powder that rested on the mantle over the fireplace. Before I could look behind to see who had grabbed hold of me, I felt the familiar sensation of being pushed through a tight tube before the invisible bands broke free.  
  
I looked around and recognized the familiar setting of The Three Broomsticks from my schoolboy days at Hogwarts. I hadn’t been at this pub since I had finished my seventh year. The next thing I noticed was the laughter of my friends: Mike and Brody.  
  
“You should have seen your face when we grabbed you,” Brody said. “Blimey funny, that was. Brilliant.”  
  
“We should kidnap you more often.”  
  
“And why have you kidnapped me?”  
  
“Because you needed a bit of fun,” Michael replied. “You’re always working anymore.”  
  
“And with good reason,” I said. “I’m hitting my stride with all my research.”  
  
“But you don’t have to let your work consume you, Lou,” Brody said.  
  
“It’s all right to take a break for yourself.”  
  
“I know it is,” I said. “I’m just so close to a breakthrough.”  
  
“Or you just think you are.”  
  
“No, I really am getting close,” I said. “I can feel it.”  
  
Both my friends just shook their heads as we headed into The Three Broomsticks. I was treated to a round of firewhiskey. I drank three bottles and was feeling haggard, sluggish. I barely remembered how I had gotten home. Obviously one of my friends had taken me side-along. It just didn’t hit me until I was falling into my bed, face first. Then the next thing I knew it was morning and I was being woken by the blaring alarm of my wand, which was still tucked in one of the inside pockets of my healer robes.  
  
Perk to falling asleep in ones healer robes: you didn’t have to get up to change. I know what you’re probably thinking. Gross. But let me just say that my scrubs didn’t stink. They smelt perfectly fine. Fresh, even. Then I turned over on my side and my nose got a whiff, causing me to scrunch up my nose. I stand corrected.  
  
I mean, it wasn’t that bad. Not bad enough to make me get out of bed. My head was killing me. I hoped we had some hangover solution in the kitchen cupboard still. If not, then I could always nab a bottle at work. Not steal, though. I obviously would pay for it.  
  
Now, if only I could gather up the strength to pull myself out of bed. If only I didn’t have to be at the hospital in half an hour. I wanted nothing more than to have a lie-in day, and I owed it all to Brody and Mike for getting me thrashed the night before. I suppose I could have declined the drinks they put in my hand, but I wasn’t a prude. Plus, I liked a night off as much as the next wizard.  
  
“Oi, Lou, time to get up, mate!”  
  
I glared at Brody as he stuck his head in the crack between my door and the jamb. He was far too cheerful. Then again he hadn’t had three bottles of firewhiskey like I had. He and Mike had chose to keep their limit at a bottle each so that they could keep track of me. Make sure I didn’t do anything to embarrass myself. Bit insulting, then again I had been known for being wild and crazy. I don’t think I had been so much crazy last night, though.  
  
“Sod off.”  
  
I buried my head beneath the duvet after I so elegantly told him to get out.  
  
“Don’t you have to be at the hospital, though?”  
  
I grumbled. Of course I had to be at the hospital. I was always at the hospital anymore, doing any one thing. Always with a full schedule of what I had to get done each shift. Sometimes I wished I could have a day off where I didn’t have to try so hard to succeed. I hadn’t realized before, but I had work. A never-ending pile of work. Whether that work was mine or not, I still had work. It was a never-ending job.  
  
A never-ending job I still loved, though. I would never not enjoy working as a healer. That was why I managed to find the strength to get out of bed. I did switch into a cleaner pair of scrubs because the ones I wore did reek. I was in dire need of doing laundry since I had been too busy to do much of anything that didn’t involve being at the hospital.  
  
The next thing on the agenda was digging through the kitchen cupboards for a thing of hangover solution, which had just enough. I gulped it down in a single swallow before throwing in silvery floo powder and stepping into the fireplace as soon as the flames had flashed green, “St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries,” and I was stepping out into the main lobby within a minute. Everything around me was a bustle of activity.  
  
I headed straight toward the bank of lifts to ride one up to the Dai Llewellyn ward, which was where I was scheduled to do rounds that day. I was actually seeing Jonah that day since his parents were bringing him in for a routine check-up. It was just so that we could make sure his wound continued to heal properly without becoming infected. He was actually my first appointment that morning. I was glad that my head wasn’t pounding nearly as bad as it had when I had first woken up. The solution was already starting to work its magic.  
  
I walked into the examination room that Jonah was sat in with his parents after grabbing the clipboard from the hook on the door.  
  
“Hullo, Jonah,” I said. “How’s it going, mate?”  
  
“Great,” Jonah said through his smile. “My mum finally let me ride my broomstick yesterday.”  
  
“Ooh, look at you, tough guy.”  
  
“Yeah,” Jonah said, “I’m hoping to play Quidditch. My brother’s on his house team at Hogwarts.”  
  
“Ah, Quidditch,” I said, still studying the clipboard I was holding. “I’m not good at Quidditch at all. In fact, I’m barely good at navigating a broomstick. Crazy to imagine since most of my family are great at Quidditch, not to mention I have a cousin who plays on Appleby.”  
  
“Ooh, I love the Appleby Arrows,” Jonah said. “Which one is your cousin?”  
  
“James Potter.”  
  
“He’s my favourite,” Jonah said excitedly. “I hope I can get to be as good as him.”  
  
“I could see about scoring tickets to his next match.”  
  
“You don’t have to do that, Healer Weasley,” Jonah’s mum replied. “It might be too much excitement for Jonah in any case. He’s still recovering from the attack, and the last full moon took a lot out of him.”  
  
“I feel great, Mum.”  
  
I was reminded how much growing up Jonah had done since he had been attacked. The kid was only six and he acted far older than he should. He had only had two transformations under his belt, but it was clear that both had already changed him. Made him more aware of things. Jonah reminded me of Remmy even more now. Both had to deal with something that was above what they should have had to go through. An experience greater than their ages. It was so incredibly unfair.  
  
“I think a Quidditch match would be a great way to get out of the house, actually,” Jonah’s dad said. “We could all use a change of atmosphere, and Jonah loves Quidditch.”  
  
“I’ll fire-call James later about tickets, then,” I said. “I’m sure he’d have no trouble getting tickets for the lot of you. He usually can give out an unlimited amount since he’s the star player. I’ll also ask him about working it out so that you can meet up with him after the match for an autograph.”  
  
“Awesome!”  
  
The kid was enthused for the remainder of the check-up. The wound appeared to be healing as it should and I was waving the trio off and heading toward the next patient on the list in no time.  
  
After I finished my morning rounds, I headed down to the cafeteria for some lunch. I ended up running into Elsie in the hallway outside the cafeteria after vacating the lift. She hadn’t seemed to notice me until I grabbed her arm to stop her, but I had a suspicion she had been purposely ignoring me because she didn’t seem surprised.  
  
“What do you want, Louis?”  
  
Elsie’s tone sounded more annoyed than anything else. I couldn’t believe she was still mad because I had been too busy to socialize with her weeks ago. One would think she would get it since she was also a healer, but I guess not.  
  
“Look, I’m sorry, okay,” I said. “I’ve been busy with rounds and brewing and my research, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to be friends.”  
  
“Well maybe I don’t want to be friends with you.”  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
  
“It means just as it sounds,” Elsie said. “I don’t want to be your friend.”  
  
There was something in her voice that implied exactly what she wanted. Something that I didn’t have the time to provide. I liked Elsie, but I didn’t have the time to date. At least not anymore. I barely had time alone to myself, let alone time to spare for someone else.   
  
“But I can see you don’t want to go there.”  
  
“It’s not that I don’t,” I found myself saying. “I just don’t have any time for dating.”  
  
“Then you make time,” Elsie said. “It isn’t all that hard to do.”  
  
“It is when I’m basically at the hospital for all of my waking hours,” I said. “It’s been weeks since I’ve done any laundry even.”  
  
“I really didn’t need to know that knut of information.”  
  
“No, you didn’t, but maybe it’ll help you see that I really have been busy.”  
  
“Fine, I’ll just find someone else to date.”  
  
Then she was turning away. “Elsie, wait—” but it was too late. She was already high tailing it to the lift and the golden grilles had shut. I cursed.  
  
“What’s up with you?”  
  
I turned to find Frank had snuck up from the opposite direction, clearly on his way to grab some lunch while he had a break.  
  
“Oh, hullo, Frank,” I said. “I just had quite a talk with Elsie before she took off.”  
  
“What happened?” Frank asked.   
  
“Let’s just suffice it to say that she wants to date, but I had to break it to her that I just don’t have the time for any of that,” I said. “Even though I like her a lot, I just don’t want to lead her toward anything when I don’t have the time to devote to the kind of relationship that she deserves.”  
  
“Well, she is older than you,” Frank said, as they both entered the cafeteria and got in line for food. “I’m sure she’s more ready to find someone that she could see herself marrying.”  
  
“Marry?” I said, choking on my shock. “I’m nowhere near ready for that yet.”  
  
“Of course you aren’t,” Frank said, “but that’s what you get for attracting the attention of an older woman.”  
  
“She isn’t that much older than me.”  
  
“No, but still enough to count.”  
  
“How’re things going with Lily?” I asked, skillfully changing the subject if I did say so myself. “Are you still giving her the cold shoulder? Or has she finally came around?”  
  
“Still not talking,” Frank said.   
  
When we had our lunches, we headed over to an empty table.  
  
“Maybe it’s time you spelled it all out for her,” I said. “I mean, you can’t exactly blame her completely. You haven’t been all that honest about your feelings for her over the years.”  
  
“I know,” Frank said. “It’s just, well, a part of me wanted her to notice how much I liked her without telling her. That way it would be like she liked me as more than a friend, too, without me having planted any idea in her head. But she’s too hung up on Lysander to realize I’ve been hung up on her since we were kids.”  
  
“I suppose you have a point there, but honestly girls can be dense when it comes to what’s right in front of them when there’s another bloke that they can’t get over.”  
  
“I know, just like guys can be dense about what’s in front of them.”  
  
I noticed the implication behind Frank’s words. It was clear that he wasn’t about to let me just drop the topic involving Elsie as easily as I had hoped. That had been wishful thinking on my part that wasn’t about to happen.  
  
“But the difference between Lily and myself is that she has time for dating,” I said, arguing my case. “Whereas I’m too busy to find the extra time to date the girl that wants to be more than friends. I like Elsie, but I’m just not there yet. I’m still building up my career. My job is also more demanding than Lily’s. You need to tell her how you feel.”  
  
“I’ll think about it.”  
  
“Do more than think,” I said. “Act on it. You won’t win her over by standing in the background.”  
  
“I also won’t win her over while Lysander is still an active participant in her life,” Frank said. “They have too much history and baggage to ever just be friends.”  
  
“But that doesn’t mean they belong together.”  
  
“Obviously,” Frank said, “but that fact hasn’t ever stopped them from getting back together after a spat.”  
  
“You’re impossible.”  
  
The conversation dwindled down as we finished our lunches before parting, Frank heading back to the training rooms and I back to the Dai Llewellyn ward for my afternoon rounds. After I finished my rounds I headed to the brewers’ room. I had to brew up some potions before I could go home. I managed to make it home before seven and decided I would take my dirty laundry over to my parents’ to wash.  
  
My parents seemed happy to see me and I ended up eating dinner there while my clothes soaked and dried. Then I went straight home to sleep until I had to wake up to head back into the hospital for another shift. I only hoped that I wouldn’t have anymore quarrels with Elsie.  
  
I already knew I would see her, though, since I was going to be in the lab for a portion of my shift. We were usually in the lab at the same time. And I had a sinking suspicion that she would be in Accidental Spell Damage during the same time I was scheduled to do rounds. I was usually working on that ward when she was, especially since that was where she worked the bulk of her shifts. That was just how things in my life had a way of panning out, especially when in the midst of a rift.  
  
But I wasn’t about to let it bother me. I could keep things professional. Even if she found it difficult. I wasn’t about to let her mess with my head.


	14. Grown Up Responsibilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Louis, is that you, mate?” Reese said, clapping my shoulder. “How’ve you been?”
> 
> “I’ve been good, just working.”
> 
> “I can see that,” Reese said, “so you’re a qualified healer here now. That’s great.”
> 
> “Yeah, and I can see you are, too,” I said. “I thought you were working at the hospital in Ireland so you could be closer to your family.”

Chapter 14

Grown Up Responsibilities

#

As luck would have it Elsie was working on Accidental when I reported in for my shift. She was also still giving me the silent treatment. But that was fine by me. I didn’t need her to distract me from doing my job. I did my rounds and she did hers, no chance of distraction.  
  
That was there was no distraction until I ran into one of my mates, Reese, from healer training when I was turning in the corridor. Most of my training class had transferred to other wizarding hospitals and clinics. It was actually hard to get hired on at St. Mungo’s, especially straight out of training, because few healer positions became available throughout any given year. I only managed to wrangle a position because I had been top of my class.  
  
“Louis, is that you, mate?” Reese said, clapping my shoulder. “How’ve you been?”  
  
“I’ve been good, just working.”  
  
“I can see that,” Reese said, “so you’re a qualified healer here now. That’s great.”  
  
“Yeah, and I can see you are, too,” I said. “I thought you were working at the hospital in Ireland so you could be closer to your family.”  
  
“I was, but after I finished up my supervision I decided to apply for a position that opened up.”  
  
“Are you planning on moving to London?”  
  
“You know I am,” Reese said. “I already moved into a flat with a friend that came over with me. I was ready for a change of scenery.”  
  
If Reese was anything like he had been in training — and even while at Hogwarts — then I knew exactly why Reese had made the move to London. Reese lived by the philosophy of work hard, play harder. All about the party.  
  
“What’s your favorite pub?”  
  
“I like the Leaky,” I said, “but then again I’m not much for partying. You know I’ve never been into any of that. There are some good wizard night clubs, though. Brody and Mike could take you around to some of the better ones since they go out more than I do.”  
  
“Oh, so you’re still hanging around with those two?”  
  
“Yeah, we’re actually still flatmates.”  
  
“Louis, I need you up on the Dai Llewellyn ward,” Healer Newman said, coming up from behind where we stood. “Michael needs someone to cover him so he can grab lunch.”  
  
“On it,” I said. “I’ll catch you later, Reese.”  
  
“Oi, we’ll have to go out for drinks some time.”  
  
I stuck my hand up to let him know I had heard as I headed to Dai Llewellyn and basically just wandered the halls keeping an eye out for any surprises that happened. Nothing sprung out of the woodwork and before long I was back in Accidental. It wasn’t until I was about to step into the lift to head down to the cafeteria for a bite that I ran into Elsie. She was waiting at the lifts. I hoped she wasn’t taking her break at the same time. Not that I minded sharing a break with her. It was just that Elsie had made it abundantly clear that she wanted nothing to do with me.  
  
“Please tell me you’re not taking your lunch now.”  
  
“I am,” I said. “If you have a problem with it, then don’t take your lunch now because I’m not about to change my break. I’m too hungry to wait any longer.”  
  
“If anyone changes their lunch, then it should be you. I’ve been waiting for the lift longer.”  
  
I just stared at her. She had to be kidding me. I was not about to change my break. I was hungry and needed food now. Besides, Elsie was the one that didn’t want to talk with me. It didn’t matter to me whether we took our lunches at the same time or different. I just needed food in my stomach.  
  
We both got into the lift.  
  
“Seriously, you need to wait to eat lunch.”  
  
“I’m not waiting,” I said. “You’re being ridiculous.”  
  
The golden grilles shut and the lift whooshed down.  
  
“Then agree to go out with me.”  
  
“Elsie,” I said, exhaling. “I don’t have the time to date, even if I wanted to.”  
  
“Excuses.”  
  
“Not excuses, just the truth.”  
  
“You were perfectly willing to date not so long ago after we first kissed,” Elsie said. “What changed your mind?”  
  
“My schedule,” I said. “I’m a lot busier than I was a month or so ago.”  
  
The rest of the ride down to the cafeteria was terse. The silence thick enough that a knife was needed to slice it away with one fail-safe swoop. I wasted no time at all in escaping the lift as quickly as I could, walking away from the witch that was throwing herself on me. Not literally, but you got the point. I grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich with crisps and green jello before looking for an open spot in the crowded cafeteria. I found Reese motioning me toward where he sat with another healer who was around our age that I had seen in the halls, but hadn’t passed words with yet.  
  
“How’s it going?” I asked as I sat down across from the pair.  
  
“All right,” Reese said. “You know Gideon, right?” He said, motioning toward the healer on his right. “He mostly works in the closed ward in Spell Damage. You know, where that poor sod Lockhart resides.”  
  
“Lockhart isn’t all bad,” Gideon said. “At least not anymore. Mind, he does still think an obnoxiously large amount of himself, but that’s mostly due to all the fan letters he still receives from his previous endeavors, even if those were faked on his account.”  
  
“Still, you have to put up with the mad bloke day in and day out.”  
  
“It isn’t so bad,” Gideon said, then turned toward Louis. “I’ve seen you around. You just finished all your training and such, right? Newman thinks very highly of you. It’s almost like you’re his own personal lap dog.”  
  
I felt my face warm as I cleared my throat in an attempt to detract from it. “I wouldn’t say that. I just answered to Thomas when I was an intern. If anything, he just sees me as a project. Of course he wants me to succeed since he’s the one who oversaw my training.”  
  
“It isn’t anything to be ashamed of,” Gideon said. “I’d give anything to have a healer like Newman on my side to back me up. Though, Michael isn’t so bad. They’re both from the same training class, and are moving up faster than the average healer.”  
  
“They’re also friends.”  
  
“Yeah,” Gideon said. “So, what’s the deal with you and Elsie? You know she was in my training class, right? I kind of had a thing for her back then, but not so much anymore. She’s a bit too uptight. Always had been. Hard to get a date with, if you can believe it. She doesn’t just throw herself at anyone.”  
  
“Well, don’t I feel lucky,” I said. “And there isn’t anything going on between us that’s worth gossiping about. I don’t have time to date.”  
  
“Correction, you don’t have time to date anyone who you feel isn’t worth it,” Gideon said. “When you find the right woman, then you’ll feel differently despite your schedule.”  
  
“I take it you’re dating someone?”  
  
“Not yet, but I’m working on it.”  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Reese asked. “You’re either dating someone or you aren’t.”  
  
“It means I’m still in the beginning stages of wooing said woman into going on a date with me.”  
  
“Who’s the lucky lady?”  
  
“Roxanne Weasley,” Gideon said. “She was a handful of years beneath me at Hogwarts, but since she finished we’ve been hanging out more since a lot of our friends mingle. Plus that body,” Gideon whistled. “I could watch her play Quidditch all day long.”  
  
My cousin Roxanne played as one of the three Chasers on the Holyhead Harpies. It only figured that Gideon would have a thing for her; she had quite the athletic physique.  
  
“Louis’s cousin,” Reese said. “That’s more of an in than you already had, if any.”  
  
“Oh, that’s right, you’re a Weasley,” Gideon said. “I always forget. You’re just somehow different than the rest of your family, even with the red hair. A bit saner.”  
  
That was as good a compliment as I had ever wanted. The fact that I could stand out on my own without being recognized for being a Weasley was what I had strived to achieve, especially after Hogwarts when I entered the St. Mungo’s Healer Program.  
  
“So, what say you, Louis,” Gideon said, “you going to help me win over your cousin, Roxanne?”  
  
“I guess,” I said, “though I don’t really see much of her due to the amount of traveling she does with the Harpies. Quidditch keeps her busy.”  
  
“I know that much already. That’s the whole reason it’s taken me this long to work toward getting a date.”  
  
The trio finished up their lunches and headed back to their posts.  
  
#  
  
I ended up pitching the idea of opening up my research for test subjects to volunteer. I had a few drafts of the amended Wolfsbane that I intended to use as the ongoing treatment for werewolves. I just needed a willing participant or two to test it on. Newman agreed and passed on my pitch to the Research Board of Healers, who also passed it. I had moved my research to the next stage. The testing stage. I had also never been more frightened of failure. If I failed at this level, then there would be more at risk than my career. There would patients in my care, trusting me to treat their lycanthropy.  
  
My confidence lowered as I waited for my first patient to come forward about the advertisement I had submitted to a healers’ medicinal journal. A call for werewolves that were willing to try out a new treatment. The ad went unanswered for nearly a week before I was being paged to the top floor where research was conducted. I had been given a small office, and by small I mean closet-sized. Heck, it had probably been a broom closet before they cleared it out and squeezed in a desk and two chairs.  
  
I currently sat at that desk in that cramped room with a wizard seated across from me. I clenched my hands in my lap to keep them out of my potential patient’s vision. I wanted to come across as competent, not unsure.  
  
I perused the application before me once more. “It says you’ve been a werewolf for a few years,” I read, glancing up and making eye contact. “I don’t want to get your hopes up about the treatment I’ve concocted since it’s all experimental, but if you’re willing to sign the waiver than I would make it my mission that it works. I can’t promise that their won’t be adverse effects, but I can promise to give you my complete attention the whole way through treatment.”  
  
“How old are you?”  
  
I brought my hand up to ruffle my hair, anxious. “I’m twenty-three, but I’ve completed my training and am fully qualified and capable to perform all the duties of a healer, as well as fully capable of brewing potions. Rest assured that you’re in good hands. I can give you a reference if you want to talk to someone about my background.”  
  
“It’s nothing against you as I’m sure you’re a great healer,” the potential patient said. “I just don’t like the idea of a young healer performing experimental treatments on me. You understand, I’m sure?”  
  
“Of course,” I said, feeling a weight drop into my stomach. The first hurdle in my career and it was because of my age. I felt like a child all over again.  
  
“It’d be different if you had other patients lined up,” the potential patient said. “Are there any other patients willing?”  
  
“Not yet, but I’ve only posted the request inquiry in the journal a week ago.”  
  
“But I still prefer to not be the only patient.”  
  
“I understand completely.”  
  
I felt empty. Let down. But there wasn’t anything for me to do but to agree. I nodded my head in agreement whilst wishing that more werewolves would answer my inquiry.  
  
I ended up letting the man walk away. Right out of my office without any idea of whether he would return. I hoped he would, if only to ask if I had any others interested. But there was no telling as I watched him walk away. My first potential that may not even be a patient.

#  
  
Luck was surely on my side as I had gained a few more interests in joining my experimental treatment in the week that followed that first interest. I had all the contacts in their applications except for that first one. That first hadn’t wanted to list any means of contacting him, which I understood to an extent. It was just annoying because it felt like the guy held all the cards to a game I had no idea how to play.  
  
I fire-called back the few others that came and talked them into coming back to St. Mungo’s so that I could go over the treatment in a more extensive detail before they agreed to anything. It wasn’t until those patients, my own patients, had signed all the necessary paperwork by the end of the week that the first potential came knocking on the door of my cramped office. I was surprised, but excited because he was still interested and wanted to know if I could tell him more about the treatments I had put together. I explained it all to him and told him about the others that had agreed to try the treatment. The man seemed relieved that he wouldn’t be the only one undergoing such experimental treatments. Anything that made him feel better was fine by me since he was putting his life in my hands.  
  
If I messed up, then all of my new patients’ lives would be put on the line. Or worse. The worst that could happen was death and I wasn’t ready to think about that. It was too much, too soon. I just needed to keep my focus in check. That was the reason I was staying late, in the brewers’ quarter, working on the potion I had concocted. The properties all seemed safe and logical; it had even passed all the safety regulations. I just didn’t want to discover any major blunders.


	15. Lighten Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I suppose,” I said. “So, Lily, where’s Lysander at?”
> 
> Lily huffed. “I dunno, and honestly I don’t care. Off somewhere being a wanker.”
> 
> Frank pointedly looked at me, waving his hands behind Lily, as if to tell me to drop the subject. Not one to open up a can of worms, I decided to leave it at that, but Lily had only started to fume.

Chapter 15

Lighten Up

#

It was the end of a long, busy week and I was looking forward to the prospect of being off the whole weekend. I don’t know how I had wound up that lucky, then again I was technically on-call on Sunday. But let’s be honest, Sundays were our slow days at the hospital. Something about it being a day of rest that people took to heart, I supposed. I had planned on going straight to bed when I got home, but Brody and Mike had other things on our Friday night agenda. Apparently we were meeting up with Reese and a few others at the Leaky and going from there, then there was an England v. Appleby Quidditch match the next day that Brody had managed to snag tickets to from one of his buddies who worked in Magical Sports at the MoM.  
  
I promised to make an appearance, but would have to bow out early so that I would be rested up to go to the match. It had been an exhausting week. Everything was coming together and I had explained the treatment in great detail to the line of patients I had on board. I would start them on the treatment that upcoming week. As a result, I was even more harried than usual as my brain kept going over ways the treatment could go wrong. More like nightmares, actually. My brain had quite the active imagination as it turned out.  
  
I noticed that there was more than few in our group when we arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. There were quite a handful of my cousins, with the addition of Reese and Frank in the midst of red and black-haired heads.  
  
“Louis, it’s been ages,” Albus said, “how’s it going?”  
  
“All right, just busy.”  
  
“I hear you’ve been making quite the name for yourself,” Albus said. “Of course, it would have been nice to hear it from you instead of reading about it in the Daily Prophet.”  
  
I had forgotten that a story about my research had recently been run in the Prophet. I had only been reading through medical journals. It was easy to miss out on things when you didn’t read the post. I had been setting my Daily Prophet aside each morning, still furled. There was a stack of the newspaper on the coffee table. Neither of my roommates ever made much of an effort to read the Prophet, either.  
  
“Oh, yeah,” I said, ruffling my hair. “I’d forgotten about that article.”  
  
“Nice of you to join us, Louis,” Lily said, coming over toward me with Frank trailing like a sad, puppy dog on her heels. I supposed Frank was back to being the shoulder Lily cried on about Lysander.  
  
“Fancy running into you outside of white walls and sterile rooms,” Frank said. “How’s all the research going?”  
  
“Great,” I said. “I’ve got a few patients enrolled to start treatments next week.”  
  
“Whoa, everything is finally getting up off the ground after all those months of preparation.”  
  
“Yeah,” I said. “I still can’t believe how much time has passed.”  
  
“But all the work is about to pay off with actual results.”  
  
“I suppose,” I said. “So, Lily, where’s Lysander at?”  
  
Lily huffed. “I dunno, and honestly I don’t care. Off somewhere being a wanker.”  
  
Frank pointedly looked at me, waving his hands behind Lily, as if to tell me to drop the subject. Not one to open up a can of worms, I decided to leave it at that, but Lily had only started to fume.  
  
“He said he needed to be out with the guys to let off some steam from the week,” Lily said. “Said he couldn’t be bothered to set up anything for a date night; he said it was too much work. Can you believe that? I don’t even know why I’m still with him if he thinks it’s not worth spending time together.”  
  
“The nerve of him,” I said, not really sure what I was supposed to say. Frank just glared at me pointedly for spurring Lily to continue ranting.  
  
“I know, right?” Lily steamed. “So I told him that I was going to hang out with Frank. He can’t stand it when Frank and I are together. Don’t know why, but I guess he sees Frank as a threat. He shouldn’t, but there you have it.”  
  
Sounded like a whole load of drama. I would make sure to steer clear. The last thing I wanted was to get dragged into any of Lily’s messes. I felt bad for Frank, but he brought it on himself. The last I heard, Frank had been giving Lily the freeze out, but apparently he had let it thaw. I figured he would be back eating out of the palm of Lily’s hand, but it was still disappointing to see. He needed to grow a back bone and actually tell her how he felt instead of consoling her over her wanker of a boyfriend.  
  
Honestly, if I were Lily’s boyfriend, I would be jealous she was spending her time with another guy, too, even if it was just friendly. Anyone who had seen Frank with Lily knew he liked her, well everyone except for Lily. The girl was obtuse for a journalist, especially when it came to her friendship with Frank. I was staying out of it.  
  
“All right, mates,” Brody said over all the chatter, “it’s time to get this night started.”  
  
We ended up hanging around the Leaky for a couple of hours. I spent most of the time catching up with Reese. Frank joined us after only half an hour of talking, looking dejected.  
  
“What’s up with you?” I asked.  
  
“Lysander just showed up.”  
  
I glanced over toward where Lily was standing with Roxanne to spot Lysander. “Forget her, mate. She isn’t worth it.”  
  
“Mate, that’s your cousin you’re talking about,” Reese inserted.  
  
“I know,” I said, “I’m just tired of watching Frank let Lily trample all over his heart.”  
  
“Well, I’m done this time,” Frank said. “I’m serious. I’m through with her. She can find a new best mate.”  
  
“Right,” I said. “I’ll believe that when it’s been longer than a month of no contact.”  
  
“I’m serious.”  
  
“Yeah, I’m sure you are,” I said. “For this moment, at least.”  
  
“As entertaining as all this is,” Reese said, “I think I’m going to head over and try to strike up a conversation with Roxanne. She’s looking like a third wheel over there with Lily and Lysander. I think I’ll use that as my excuse to swoop in as savior.”  
  
I watched, amused, as Reese garishly left the table. He made a beeline straight for Roxanne, hot on a trail, before I turned back to Frank. “That’s how you should be with Lily.”  
  
“You’re one to talk.”  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
  
“Only that you’ve been using your work as a way of hiding from Elsie,” Frank said. “She’s into you, mate, and you’re into her, too. What’s there to hold you back?”  
  
“I’m too busy for a relationship.”  
  
“No, you aren’t,” Frank said. “You can make time for Elsie if you really wanted to. I think you’re afraid of getting involved with her.”  
  
“Afraid?” I asked, flabbergasted. “Why on earth would I be afraid of Elsie?”  
  
“Not of her so much as your feelings for her.”  
  
“My feelings?” I raised my brow. “I don’t think so. We’re just friends.”  
  
“But what about the kiss in the lift?”  
  
“That was spurred on from all the tension in the heat of the moment.”  
  
“You sure do have an answer for everything.”  
  
I shrugged.   
  
“What would you say if she walked into the Leaky while we were still hanging about?”  
  
I shrugged.  
  
“Because she just did,” Frank said, nodding toward the door. “Walked in, that is.”  
  
I was facing away from the door, which meant I had to turn around. And there Elsie stood in the doorway, wearing a bright red dress instead of her healer scrubs.  
  
“Still not feeling anything?” Frank said, just a touch of mocking in his tone. He was clearly enjoying himself now that the attention wasn’t focused on his inability of telling Lily how he felt.  
  
“Get off it,” I said, turning back around. “We’re just co-workers. Nothing more to it than that.”  
  
“Hullo, Louis,” Elsie said, voice making her sound a lot closer. “How’s your night off?”  
  
I turned back to find that Elsie now stood right next to my stool. She didn’t seem as mad as she had been the other day. She actually seemed cool, indifferent, like she was completely over the thought of dating me.  
  
“All right, I suppose.”  
  
“Any big plans, or just laying about here?”  
  
“Dunno,” I said. “Mike and Brody hold the plans for the night; the rest of us are just here to follow.”  
  
“You, a follower,” Elsie said. “I find that hard to imagine considering all of the progress you’ve been headlining at the hospital with your lycanthropy research.”  
  
“Well, believe it,” I said. “My friends hold the key to the night.”  
  
“What about tomorrow?”  
  
“Quidditch match,” I said. “Brody snagged tickets. Plus, my cousin’s team is playing.”  
  
“Which cousin?”  
  
Fair point considering I had more than one cousin who played Quidditch. “James.”  
  
“Ah, the hot shot Quidditch player himself.”  
  
“Crush?”  
  
“Nah,” Elsie said. “I’m not the type of girl to go crushing on Quidditch stars. I’m attractive to a man with wit beyond measure. Intelligence is a huge turn on.”   
  
It hadn’t escaped me that Elsie had just used part of Ravenclaw’s quote.  
  
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling turned on by the way Elsie was talking so nonchalantly. Her tone was almost sultry, though. I wondered if she knew what she was doing to me, as if she could sense that I was feeling her as much as she was probably feeling me in this moment. The air between us felt charged. I had completely forgotten about Frank sitting across the table. I only had eyes for Elsie, which I had a suspension that had been her intention when she had walked in the bar wearing that tight, red dress that stopped just above her knees.   
  
“What about you, Frank?” Elsie said, pulling Frank into our conversation. “What turns you on?”  
  
“Oh, I dunno,” Frank said, glancing over at Lily half-heartedly for several seconds.   
  
“Ah, you’re into Lily Potter,” Elsie said. “She’s quite the fiery redhead reporter. I bet she’s bossy, but if you’re into that.” She let the rest of her sentence trail off. Damn, she was purposely torturing me with wordplay.  
  
“No,” Frank said. “I mean, she has a boyfriend.”  
  
“What makes you think she’s off the table just because she has a boyfriend. Go tell her how you feel.”  
  
“That’s what I’ve been telling him for ages,” I said. “But he hasn’t listened yet. He’s stuck in the friend zone and too scared to risk stepping outside of it.”  
  
“You shouldn’t be,” Elsie said. “You have a lot going for you, Frank. Aren’t you top of your training class?”  
  
“I think.”  
  
“Well there’s your problem,” Elsie said. “You lack confidence.”  
  
I was trying to follow the conversation, but my mind kept trying to jump the rails. My thoughts were racing. I wanted to grab Elsie and plant a kiss on her lips. It had been too long since that snog had occurred between us. I wanted to be reminded of what a good kisser she had been. I also wanted to ensure that I hadn’t just dreamt it all up. That what I had felt had meant something. Then again I made such a big deal out of being too busy for dating that I was hesitant.  
  
“So, Louis,” Elsie said, “what else do you have planned for the weekend?”  
  
I shrugged.  
  
“Any plans for Sunday?”  
  
“None. I’m on-call.”  
  
“Why don’t you come over to my house for dinner?”  
  
“Are you feeling okay?”  
  
“Yeah, why?”  
  
“It’s just that,” I said, “well, you’ve been mad at me. How do I know you won’t try to poison me?”  
  
“Poison you?” Elsie said, laughing. “Don’t be silly. I could never poison you, no matter how much you get on my nerves.”  
  
She was up to something, I was certain of it. I just couldn’t figure out what it was she was up to. The only thing I could do was trust that she wouldn’t try to murder me if I accepted her dinner invitation.  
  
“So, what do you say, Lou?”  
  
“I suppose I could come over.”  
  
“Great,” Elsie said. “You remember where I live, right?”  
  
I nodded, cheeks flushing as I ducked my head. I was suddenly very interested in the woodwork of the table.  
  
“See you then.”  
  
And just like that Elsie was skipping off, actually skipping, and I had an actual dinner date with her planned. I don’t know how I had managed that, but somehow I had. I had just backed myself into a corner. The only direction I could go from here was forward; I had no clue how I thought about any of this, my brain was all jumbled.  
  
“Mate, you just agreed to dinner with Elsie.”  
  
“Yeah, I know,” I said, gritting my teeth at Frank to let him know that I didn’t need a reminder.   
  
“I thought you weren’t going to date right now.”  
  
“Well apparently I’ve decided to change tact.”  
  
The rest of the night went by in a blur. I somehow made it back home in one piece and fell face first into bed, out within a matter of seconds.  
  
#  
  
I was woken up by my friends shortly before we had to leave for the Quidditch match. The weather was perfect, clear and bright, though not too sunny. The air also hung still in the atmosphere. We climbed the stands and settled into the chairs that our tickets indicated.  
  
“I wonder where Frank’s at,” I asked. He had told me at the Leaky that he was coming with Lily and that they would look for us. “Then again, he was supposed to be coming with Lily and he ended up getting mad at her for getting back with Lysander.”  
  
“Even if he does end up coming with Lily, they’ll probably be in the top box since James would have provided Lily with the best tickets. Family perks.” Brody said. “Though you’re his cousin, Louis, so you should also be entitled to those perks.”  
  
I shrugged. “I still have to ask James well in advance. I’ve been out of the loop with Quidditch the past few months, though, so I had no idea Appleby was playing at England’s stadium until you guys said you had scored tickets, and I just happened to be off duty.”  
  
“Oh, look, there’s Lily,” Michael said, pointing up at the top box where the red head was taking a seat. “And it looks like Lysander is no where to be seen. Oh, and there’s Frank. Surprise, surprise. He says he’s mad at her, but he always goes back to her. Poor sod.”  
  
“He’s got it bad, that’s for sure,” Brody said.   
  
“I knew he wouldn’t stay mad at her for long,” I said. “He never can stay away for long.”  
  
Then our attention was being directed toward the field where the players were flying out, doing laps around, alongside the stands of cheering fans. The commentator introduced all the players of both teams. I had no trouble picking James out from the rest of the blue-clad Appleby players as he swooped toward the center with the other two Appleby chasers, meeting the referee and England’s chasers. The quaffle was tossed into the air and as it changed trajectory to head back down, James snatched it and headed down the field, playing a game of hot potato with the other two Appleby chasers before he tossed the quaffle into the left goal hoop.  
  
“JAMES POTTER MAKES FIRST GOAL. THAT’S TEN-NIL TO APPLEBY ARROWS,” the commentator said enthusiastically. “THE KID IS STILL ON FIRE.”  
  
England’s keeper tosses the quaffle to one of England’s chasers, who then turns to head off down the field toward Appleby’s keeper. Tosses to a fellow teammate, who aims at the goal hoop just a smidgeon too late because Appleby’s keeper has time to get in front of the hoop he had aimed for, successfully blocking the shot. Appleby really had come a long way since James started playing for them several years ago. It’s the only team James had played with, actually. They won’t let him go, yet James seemed happy on Appleby. The team had great chemistry in the air. You could tell just by watching a match that they were all in tune with where each of their teammates were flying.  
  
Appleby scores a couple more times before England makes their first score, finally getting on the board.  
  
“THIS GAME IS FINALLY STARTING TO GET INTERESTING WITH ENGLAND SHOWING UP, FINALLY,” the commentator announced. “THAT’S 30-10, APPLEBY STILL OWNS THIS GAME. LET’S SEE IF ENGLAND CAN TURN IT AROUND… AND NO, DOESN’T LOOK LIKE APPLEBY IS GOING TO TAKE IT LYING DOWN. THAT’S POTTER THAT JUST INTERCEPTED AND IS HEADING DOWN THE FIELD…” I watched with the rest of the crowd as James flew with the quaffle under his arm down the field before taking aim at the centre hoop. “AND POTTER SCORES. TALK ABOUT SOME MAJOR COMPETITION FOR ENGLAND. 40-10 TO APPLEBY.”  
  
“James is really bringing the heat,” Michael said. “Seriously ripping into England.”  
  
“Yeah he is,” Brody said.  
  
I agreed. I definitely had to hand it to my cousin. James truly was one of the top notch players in the league. Also the most sought after chaser. Each year, before it was known that he was signing with Appleby for another season, other teams would try to get him to switch over. But he never sold out. He always chose the Appleby Arrows. I don’t think he would ever leave the Arrows. Just didn’t seem to be in the cards.  
  
England did manage to get in a few more goals, as did Appleby, before Appleby’s seeker caught the snitch. After the match, they met up with James and the rest of the team at The Rusty Bludger, a pub that was always a hot spot for a lot of quidditch players. Oliver Wood even happened to be in attendance, obviously to show his support for James. Wood had taken over as the Flying Instructor/Referee when Madam Hooch had retired, and he had still been around when we had been at Hogwarts. He had played for Puddlemere United for a handful of years before switching to coaching. He had still coached while he worked at Hogwarts on the side, though he wasn’t at Hogwarts anymore. He was currently coaching the Chudley Cannons. He had tried to get James to switch over a couple years ago, but James hadn’t went for it.  
  
There were rumors about Wood being transferred to another team, but all of that was hush hush. Quidditch coaches were moved around after a few years, especially if their team wasn’t doing so hot. But even when a team was consistently winning matches, a new coach would be brought in. The Cannons were still as cursed as they had always been. I hadn’t blamed James for turning down Wood’s offer.  
  
“You’ve got Quidditch running through your veins,” Wood told James. “I can only hope that I get to coach you again some day.”  
  
“When you aren’t on a cursed team,” James said, “give me a call.”  
  
“You know, the Cannons might not be cursed if they actually had a talented player such as yourself on it.”  
  
“Yeah, I highly doubt that, but thanks for that, Wood.”  
  
“Hey, James, I’m going to head out,” I said, slapping him on the back. “Great game, mate. I’ll see you around.”  
  
“Yeah, all right, Louis,” James said. “Don’t be a stranger. I can get you free tickets any time you want, you just have to let me know.”  
  
I told him I would, then left. Brody and Michael hung back to celebrate more with the team. They were also both chatting up some lassies that were fairly regular fixtures at The Rusty Bludgers. Usually the type of women that hung around The Rusty Bludger were only interested in dating Quidditch players. It was hard to deter their attention if you were a regular bloke, and it looked like both his mates were striking out more than scoring.   
  
I laughed as I left and apparated to my parents’ for dinner. It had been a while since I had seen them, and my sisters were also popping over.


	16. Family Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, where’s Dom?” I asked. 
> 
> I missed my other sister. The past couple months Dom had grown into an enigma in our family, almost like she had jumped ship.
> 
> “Not sure,” Bill said. “She should be here soon. I’m worried that something happened. She seemed out of it when I fire-called her the other day to tell her about dinner.”

Chapter 16

Family Night

#

I arrived at Shell Cottage and walked up to the front door, and without bothering to knock I let myself in. I could hear voices off in the back of the house. I assumed the kitchen. I was correct. I leaned against the jamb and just waited to see how long it would take before I was noticed.  
  
“You shouldn’t even be working now,” Fleur said. “You should already be on maternity leave, resting until you have the babies.”  
  
Wait, hang on, surely I had misheard. Mum couldn’t possibly have said the plural.  
  
“I’m fine, Mum,” Victoire said. “Ted wouldn’t let me work if I wasn’t okay. Healer Jacoby doesn’t see any reason why I can’t still work up until my due date. She told me that I’m completely healthy.”  
  
“But you’re not just carrying one child, Victoire Anna.”  
  
Apparently I had heard correctly. Since when was Victoire carrying around more than one child? I furrowed my brow. Also, mum was serious if she was addressing my sister by her full name.  
  
“How’s it going, Louis?”  
  
I jumped, turning to find Dad standing behind me with Teddy shutting the back door that led out into the garden, and beyond that the sandy shores of a beach.  
  
I shrugged. “I went to James’s match with Brody and Mike. Arrows won.”  
  
“Are they still at it, then?” Teddy cut in, nodding toward the kitchen.  
  
“Sounds like it,” I said. “I just got here and so far they haven’t noticed me.”  
  
“Surely work can wait until you have the babies,” came Fleur’s voice from inside the kitchen. “You need plenty of rest.”  
  
“So, twins?” I asked, smirking at Teddy. “You sure do get in there, mate.”  
  
Teddy blushed.  
  
“Twins run in the Prewitt/Weasley family,” Bill said. “I’m actually surprised it took this long for another set to arrive.”  
  
A silence descended. It wasn’t a secret that Fred and George had been the last set of twins in the Weasley family. It wasn’t something that anyone liked to dwell on, not since Fred’s death during the infamous Battle of Hogwarts. All I knew of Fred’s death was that he had been laughing at something Percy had said when a jet of green light had engulfed him, stealing away his laughter as all the life was sucked out of him. It had happened just outside the Room of Requirement, which had been destroyed.  
  
“Mum, I can’t take time away from work,” Victoire said angrily. “Things are too hectic at the moment. Besides, I’m only part-time.”  
  
Then I realized something. “Where’s Remus?”   
  
“Taking a nap in Victoire’s old bedroom,” Teddy said. “He wiped himself out flying his broomstick around the garden. I should probably go wake him up. He can be quite cranky when he naps for too long.”  
  
Teddy left Dad and me standing in the hallway.  
  
“How’re things at the hospital?”  
  
“Busy,” I said. “But my research got approved for the testimonial stage and I have a few people to begin trials.”  
  
“That’s great,” Bill said. “I’m proud of you, Lou.”  
  
“I can’t take anymore of this,” Victoire said, her voice louder now. “I’ve had one child already. I know what my body can handle.”  
  
“I think it’s time we made our presence known,” Bill said. “That way they know they have to start playing nice.”  
  
I nodded, though stepped aside to let Dad enter the battle zone before I followed.  
  
“Louis, when did you get here?”  
  
Instantly all of Mum’s attention was drawn toward me. It didn’t escape my attention that Victoire’s shoulders relaxed in that moment.  
  
“Whoa, Vic, you’re huge.”  
  
“Nice, Louis,” Victoire said, though laughing from my comment. “Is that anyway to talk to your highly emotional sister.” Though she was clearly joking as she gave me a side hug, which was really the only way she could hug me. “I’m sure you overheard. I’m having twins. Surprise.”  
  
“Do you know the genders yet?”  
  
“No,” Victoire said, “and we don’t want to know. Honestly, all Ted and I want is for two healthy babies.”  
  
I nodded.  
  
“Does that make me a horrible mother?” Victoire asked. “To hope that both babies don’t have lycanthropy like Remus? I wouldn’t trade Remus for anything, but I don’t think I can handle another child that had to undergo such a transformation each month. It breaks my heart enough watching it take such a toll on Remus.”  
  
“You’re a great mum,” I said. “It isn’t wrong at all. Completely reasonable. No parent wants their child to suffer, and you’re excellent with Remus.”  
  
Victoire smiled, tears leaking out. “Thanks.”  
  
I felt uncomfortable. I didn’t do crying.  
  
“Why don’t you go have a lay-in, Victoire?” Fleur suggested. “You’ve been on your feet the whole day.”  
  
“She’s right about that,” Teddy said, entering the kitchen with a sleepy Remus in his arms.  
  
“Oh, there’s my little Pumpkin,” Victoire said, unsurprisingly ignoring Teddy’s weigh in. “Did you have a good nap?”  
  
Remus rubbed at his eyes with small fists.  
  
“That wasn’t a suggestion,” Teddy said. “You need to go rest for a bit. I’ll come and wake you when dinner is ready.”  
  
“Fine, I can tell when I’m fighting a losing battle.”  
  
It never ceased to surprise me how Victoire could relinquish the reins over to Teddy whenever he said something she knew was true. Probably because I was so used to Victoire butting heads with our parents when we were growing up. It wasn’t that Victoire had been a wild child, either. She had just been headstrong. I guess she had met her match. I could only hope I found a love as strong as the one that Teddy and Victoire shared.  
  
“So, where’s Dom?” I asked.   
  
I missed my other sister. The past couple months Dom had grown into an enigma in our family, almost like she had jumped ship.  
  
“Not sure,” Bill said. “She should be here soon. I’m worried that something happened. She seemed out of it when I fire-called her the other day to tell her about dinner.”  
  
“She might not be writing, again,” Fleur said. “You know how she gets and she usually blames it on writer’s block.”  
  
“It’s her life, Fleur.”  
  
“I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still be upset,” Fleur said. “All those smarts gone to waste.”  
  
Dominique had always received high marks while at Hogwarts. The problem was a lack of motivation, and perhaps a bit of that fabled middle child syndrome that seemed accurate in families with three children.  
  
“She’s entitled to live her life the way she wants to,” Bill said, who had always been accepting when it came to what any of us had chosen to do with our lives, so long as it was legal and kept us safe and healthy. “Both of you have the jobs you wanted, and Dom is pursuing hers.”  
  
Victoire sighed before she headed up to her old bedroom for that lay-in that her mother and husband were both making her take.  
  
“Uncle Lou,” Remus said, reaching his arms out to be transferred into my arms.  
  
“Hullo, Remy,” I said. “I heard you were out flying.”  
  
“It was awesome, Uncle Lou,” Remus said. “I even flew out over the water for a bit before Mummy saw and called me back. She was mad.”  
  
“Nah,” I said. “She was probably just scared you might fall into the water and get pulled out by the current.”  
  
“Scared me, too,” Teddy said. “He knows he’s not allowed to fly over the water like that, too, especially since he can’t swim yet.”  
  
“Then teach me to swim.”  
  
“You’re still too young to swim with all the currents pulling in different directions.”  
  
“I’m strong.” As if to prove his point, Remus flexed his arm muscles by squeezing his tiny fists, causing all of us to laugh.  
  
Just then, there was a brief roar of fire from the sitting room, followed by the elusive Dom entering the kitchen. She looked thinner and paler, despite the extra sun she should have been getting down in France. Dom’s hair was also lackluster and the blond colours appeared dull instead of bright like it usually was.  
  
“Sorry I’m late,” Dominique said, barely managing the smile she plastered on.   
  
Fleur rushed over and put her arms around her youngest daughter. The women stood like that, arms wrapped around each other, for several minutes before Dominique pulled away and Fleur got a good look at the daughter that she had been fretting over for the past couple of months. Fleur’s brow furrowed with concern,  
  
“You’ve lost way too much weight.”  
  
“I’ve also lost my job at the cafe and my boyfriend,” Dominique said. “Not to mention that none of my submissions have been accepted. I’ve barely been scraping by.”  
  
“Why didn’t you say something?” Bill asked. “We would have sent you money until you were back on your feet.”  
  
“I was ashamed.”  
  
“How long has this been going on?” Fleur asked.  
  
“A couple weeks… maybe a month. I’ve lost track of time,” Dominique said, somewhat in a daze. “I’ve been crashing out on sofas.”  
  
“That’s it,” Fleur said, “you’re to move back. You’re room is still the same as you’ve left it. It’ll be just until you’ve landed back on your feet.”  
  
“And once again I’ve proven to be the unsuccessful of child of Bill and Fleur Weasley. A disappointment.”  
  
“You’re not a disappointment,” Bill said.   
  
Dad had always had a soft spot for Dominique; she had been his little angel, and she had always had him wrapped around her little finger.  
  
“Or you could crash at Victoire and mine,” Teddy offered. “We have a guest bedroom with your name on it if you want it.”  
  
“I couldn’t impose on either of your hospitalities,” Dominique said, “especially with the baby on the way.”  
  
“Babies,” I said, interjecting myself into the conversation. “They’re having twins.”  
  
“You’re shitting me,” Dominique said, always the more eloquent sibling. “I mean, congratulations! You must be psyched.”  
  
“Scared shitless more like it,” Teddy said bluntly.  
  
Teddy didn’t say it, but I knew that he was stressing that the twins would end up with lycanthropy like Remus. I also had an inkling that Teddy felt responsible for Remus’s lycanthropy because he was a carrier because his father had been turned into a werewolf at the age of five. It was quite a heavy burden that my brother-in-law was carrying around, then throw in Victoire’s constant worry over it all. It was surprising that the pair was still going strong despite the strains that was trying to tear it all apart. They still kept living, making the most of their little family despite it all. I had so much respect for the both of them.  
  
“It’ll all work itself out,” Bill said. “I’m sure the babies are going to be healthy. You can’t know that every child will be sick.”  
  
Deciding that the conversation was taking more of a serious turn, I decided to take Remus outside to run around. That way they didn’t have to censor themselves for Remus’s sake. The poor kid had everyone feeling guilty when they hoped these babies would be born healthy, without lycanthropy. They had no reason to feel guilty, but it still didn’t stop the guilt from creeping in. It was a bit like survivor’s guilt.  
  
“Guess what, Uncle Lou?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“My birthday is coming,” Remus squealed, running on the sandy shore. “I’m gonna be this many,” and he held up four fingers. “Mummy said I can have a Quidditch birthday party.”  
  
“That’s awesome, Remmy,” I said. “I’m so there!”  
  
“Don’t forget your broomstick.”  
  
“I haven’t flown in years, Remmy,” I said. “I’ll just prove to be an embarrassment of an uncle. I was never much of a flyer from the start.”  
  
“I can teach you.”  
  
When a nearly four-year-old says that he can teach you how to fly it’s got to be the most hilarious thing. I was trying so hard not to laugh because I knew Remus was being completely serious. I loved this kid so much. If I ever had a son, I could only wish that he’d be as awesome as my nephew. Tough act to follow.  
  
The back door opened as Dad poked his head out. “Supper’s ready.”   
  
I grabbed Remus up in my arms and headed back up toward my childhood home. I was an adult now, but I still didn’t feel quite like the adult I was becoming. Adulthood was a tricky process. I felt a bit more like an adult than I had before being promoted at the hospital and given more responsibilities, while at the same time I still felt like an impostor. A child living in the grown-up world.  
  
I had just set Remus in his booster, plopping down in the chair next to his, when Teddy entered with a red nosed Victoire, her eyes red-rimmed. Clearly my sister hadn’t gotten that nap she had been sent away to take. I had a feeling she had been fretting over whether her babies were healthy or not, which was exactly what everyone else had been discussing in the kitchen while she was supposed to be sleeping.  
  
I watched as Victoire made a beeline straight for Remus and wrapped her arms around him the best she could given how big her stomach had become with two babies growing inside of it. It was clear that Remus was clueless, but still hugged his mum back with everything he had. That kid could make anyone feel better.  
  
“So, how’s your life going, Louis,” Dominique said, breaking the tension once we were all seated and had started piling food onto our plates.  
  
“Just keeping busy at the hospital,” I said. “I don’t have much of a personal life. Only when Mike and Brody force me to come out for drinks when they feel I’ve dropped off for too long. I saw the England vs. Appleby match earlier today. I didn’t know it was possible, but James has only gotten better.”  
  
“And to think Harry was worried that James had chosen the easy way out,” Bill said. “He’s proud of James now, but before he thought James was just choosing to not grow up and pick a career when he accepted that contract from Appleby right out of Hogwarts.”  
  
“James had earned top marks on both his O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s,” Dominique said, remembering. “We all thought he was going to follow in Uncle Harry’s footsteps since he was taking all the classes that Aurors are required to take and pass. But then, right after we sat our N.E.W.T.s, the Appleby coach approaches James with a contract and he signed it without batting an eyelash.” Dominique, Fred, and James had been in the same year at Hogwarts, as well as being in Gryffindor. Victoire was the only one of the three of us that hadn’t been a Gryffindor; she had been in Ravenclaw. “Then again, it wasn’t completely unsurprising since he had been the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain for our last two years.”  
  
“Well, Albus ended up following Harry,” Bill said. “That wasn’t a shock at all. Albus had always been more like Harry than James had. I think James felt more of the pressure of being Harry Potter’s firstborn son.”  
  
“Just being one of Harry Potter’s kids is tough,” Fleur said. “James, Albus, and Lily basically grew up in the public eye. It didn’t matter how many times Harry tried to keep his family life private since there were still undercover reporters that would publish photos and articles of the Potter family. Harry can’t escape the limelight since he’s the savior of the Wizarding world, and by default, Ginny and their kids get the same attention.”  
  
“James was always more impulsive,” Victoire said. “I remember his first two years at Hogwarts before I graduated. He was always getting himself into trouble.”  
  
“That’s because James was the one out of the three Potter kids that didn’t handle the spotlight well,” Bill said. “He wanted to make more of a name for himself, instead of being known as Harry Potter’s son. It’s fitting that he chose to play Professional Quidditch instead of going into the Auror Program.”  
  
“Fred was right there to encourage James, too,” Dominique said. “Those two together were trouble.”  
  
“They’re still trouble,” I said.  
  
“At least James got more N.E.W.T.s than Fred did,” Victoire said. “I don’t even think Fred tried. He knew he had a manager job at WWW waiting for him when he finished school.”  
  
“Fred definitely got his ambition, or lack of, from his father,” Bill said. “Fred and George didn’t even sit their N.E.W.T.s. They left school a few weeks before the exams. They had kicked off their business the summer before their final year with ads in the _Daily Prophet_. They advertised for test subjects at the start of their final year as they perfected their Skiving Snackbox. They bought their premise in Diagon Alley shortly after they left Hogwarts and by the end of that school year they were already rolling in the galleons. They were professional jokesters. And the best around, hands down.”  
  
I could tell that Dad was sad at the recollection of Uncles Fred and George making their dream of owning a joke shop an reality. Anytime Uncle Fred was brought up, the older generations that actually knew him got all weepy and nostalgic. I would have liked to have met Uncle Fred; he seemed like a funny wizard to have known. We’ve also heard other tales that involved Uncles Fred and George’s capers. They were quite the troublemaking duo while at Hogwarts.   
  
James and Fred had tried to give them a run for their money, but hadn’t come close. Maybe Victoire and Teddy’s twins will best out Uncles Fred and George, but I doubt it.  
  
When we had finished eating and talking, it was late. I needed to head back to my flat since I was on-call tomorrow. No telling what could happen, even on a Sunday. Plus I had that dinner with Elsie. That would be one for the records. I had no idea what I was walking into, especially since Elsie hadn’t exactly been very friendly the last couple of weeks. I hoped she was coming around to being friends, though. I really didn’t want to make an enemy out of Elsie Short.  
  
“We’ll have to grab drinks one night I’m off,” I told Dominique on my way out. “Sucks that you lost your job and boyfriend. You’ll have to tell me about it.”  
  
“Or we can just pretend I was never in France.”  
  
Dominique had always been very prideful. I had no doubt that her pride was wounded. Hopefully being back with us would help get her confidence back up where it had been before France had happened.  
  
“I’m happy for you, baby brother,” Dominique said. “You’re succeeding in one of the most competitive careers and I couldn’t be prouder. At least one of us is going places. Keep it up, Brainiac.”  
  
I flushed at her encouragement. “Thanks. I hope I can continue to climb the ladder as a healer.”  
  
“You will,” Dominique said. “You’re going to make such an impact that it will change lives.”  
  
I didn’t know about that, but it felt nice to hear.


	17. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea what to wear to my alleged date with Elsie Short. It wasn’t like we were going to a restaurant. What did one wear to a dinner date at the other’s house? None of my exes had ever cooked for me. I’d never cooked for any of them, either.

Chapter 17

Date Night

#

I had no idea what to wear to my alleged date with Elsie Short. It wasn’t like we were going to a restaurant. What did one wear to a dinner date at the other’s house? None of my exes had ever cooked for me. I’d never cooked for any of them, either.  
  
Deciding that it was just a first date and shouldn’t be stressed over, I threw on a pair of clean jeans and dark blue button-up. The shirt was a tad wrinkled, but it would have to do. I really didn’t want to spend any longer overthinking what to wear or I was sure my mates would call me a girl for taking so long. I had told them about the dinner, but I had tried to make it sound as casual as possible. No big deal.  
  
It took me several minutes of digging through my closet to find a pair of nice shoes. The rubber soles of my trainers were peeling, so probably not the best option to go with my dating ensemble. I needed to buy a new pair, but I had them broken in perfectly from walking all over the hospital. The brown shoes I found felt tight. I couldn’t remember how long I had had these, but I’m sure they’ve been in my wardrobe since my Hogwarts days if they hug my foot snugly. Maybe Elsie had a no shoes worn in the house rule, which meant I only had to wear them while apparating and disapparating. I could live with a little discomfort.  
  
Shrugging on a brown suede jacket to stave off the chill in the air on the off chance we went for a walk after supper, I stepped out into the hall and into the living room. Brody and Mike were both sprawled out like lumps with the radio playing a quidditch match. A couple of their MoM colleagues were over to listen. I was somewhat glad I had other plans because it was bound to get rowdy.  
  
“Off to Elsie’s?” Mike asked.  
  
“Sure am,” I said. “At the risk of sounding like a girl, how do I look? It’s not too much?”  
  
“Nah, mate,” Brody said. “That jacket actually makes you look cool.”  
  
“Oi, I know where you sleep.”  
  
I grabbed a discarded sock from the back of an armchair and tossed it at Brody’s face.  
  
The sock made its target. “Gross.” Brody tossed it back, but I dodged out of the way as it soared over my shoulder. “Go get laid already.”  
  
“That’s not what tonight is about, Brody,” I said.   
  
“Are you sure about that?”  
  
“Grow up.”  
  
“Make me.”  
  
“Both of you need to grow up,” Mike said. “In case you haven’t realised, we have witnesses watching your row. Behave.”  
  
Sometimes it was easy to forget when we had visitors over because they were just as immature. I nodded with a slight wiggle of my fingers before spinning on the spot, apparating to Elsie’s front door. I liked that she had a front porch. It made her place feel welcoming, I thought, as I knocked on the door.  
  
“Louis,” Elsie said, her voice more of a breath after the door had been opened to welcome me inside. “So glad you decided to join me. Come in.”  
  
“Thanks for the invite.”  
  
She seemed nervous, less herself. I already missed her fiery spirit and hoped whatever this shyness was wouldn’t last long.  
  
I followed her down the hall toward the kitchen where a small table was already set with a chicken dinner, and a salad and freshly cooked spinach. The table was set for two with a few lit candles. Elsie had gone to great lengths to ensure that there would be no mistaking this as anything less than a date. It made me uncomfortable, yet I found myself relaxing that she had taken such an initiative; it made me want to try as hard.  
  
Maybe I would if I felt there was something more there by the end of the date. Perhaps I would even kiss her like we had in that lift. That kiss seemed ages ago, though I knew it hadn’t been that long ago. A lot had happened since that kiss. That was the only reason it seemed so far off.  
  
“Shall we eat,” Elsie said, not waiting for me as she sat down.  
  
I followed suit and laid a napkin across one thigh before I started to cut up my chicken breast. My parents had raised me to be polite and I tried to act in a way they would be proud when the occasions called for better manners in formal situations.  
  
“Having a nice weekend off?”  
  
“I am,” I said. “I got to watch my cousin’s match yesterday. James really is at the top of his game, and his skills are constantly improving. Kind of hard to imagine how he started out on the Gryffindor team before he got swept up in Quidditch fame.”  
  
“Hmm,” Elsie said. “Did you play any?”  
  
“Nah, I stink at quidditch.”  
  
“That can’t be true.”  
  
“It is,” I said. “I’m not much of a flyer. Bit of a disappointment for Dad since our family are known for being good quidditch players, even if it’s only at Hogwarts. However, I was an excellent commentator.”  
  
“I can see that.”  
  
“So at least I still enjoy being a spectator,” I said. “What about you?”  
  
“Me?”  
  
“Did you play in your days at Hogwarts?”  
  
“Yes, but I wasn’t completely into the game,” Elsie said. “I was a Ravenclaw, so my head was more in my studies than in the sport.”  
  
“I can see you as a Ravenclaw.”  
  
“And you as a Gryffindor makes sense with your personality,” Elsie said. “Gryffindors are stubborn and determined when it comes to hitting their goals. They rarely let any outside forces deter them. You’ve been all work and no play ever since you’ve started working on a cure to end lycanthropy.”  
  
“Can you blame me for wanting to cure it?” I said, feeling that I needed to defend my stance. “My family has been directly affected by lycanthropy for the past few years with my nephew being a natural-born werewolf. His grandfather had been turned when he was a child, though his father somehow skipped the gene despite being a carrier himself. Maybe the fact his father inherited his grandmother’s Metamorphagus transformative ability somehow canceled out the lycanthropy. No idea. It’s all fascinating, yet heartbreaking when I look at my nephew and see a three-year-old who has had to grow up faster than a child should be expected.”  
  
“Whoa,” Elsie said. “I had no idea that your research came from such a genuine heart. Most healers are all about the methods and finding out the why to simply have a clearcut answer.”  
  
“Now you see why I’m so determined to actually find a cure,” I said. “I’m not purposely shutting you out. I just want so bad to succeed in this one aspect of my life, and right now it’s taking up the majority of my time.”  
  
“I get that, I do,” Elsie said, “but doesn’t it get lonely?”  
  
I shrugged. “Not much time to think about that, plus I’m still young. Plenty of time before I need to start thinking about settling down and starting a family.”  
  
“Meanwhile my biological clock is ticking,” Elsie said. “I’m older, so maybe I should just find someone closer to my age that’s ready to start a family. I want kids. That’s a deal breaker.”  
  
“I don’t have to have kids,” I said. “In fact, I’m not even sure I want kids. I mean, I like kids, but I’m not sure I want to be a parent. Healers have crazy hours anyway.”  
  
“They do,” Elsie said. “I definitely want to be a stay-at-home mum, at least until the kids are all off at Hogwarts.”  
  
“The metaphorical kids are seeming more real by the second,” I said. “And freaking me out a little. I can’t even imagine being in charge of little ones.”  
  
“Well, you’re, what, twenty-four?”  
  
“Nearly there.”  
  
“When I was your age I couldn’t even make up my mind about the type of man I wanted to date.”  
  
“Yet you’re so determined to convince me that we’re a perfect match despite the age difference.”  
  
“But you seem maturer than I was.”  
  
“Probably so,” I said. “My mates are constantly ragging on me about letting loose. Of course, when I finally do get loose, they regret it because they’re stuck watching out for my drunk arse the whole night.”  
  
Elsie laughed, causing a fluttering feeling in the pit of my stomach. That was a sound I could definitely get used to. Most people anymore guffawed in the most inhuman sound, but not Elsie. Her laugh was natural. Like the sound of bells chiming on a bright spring day.  
  
“Don’t look now,” Elsie teased, “but you’re smiling.”  
  
I was smiling. I couldn’t help it.  
  
When we had finished eating, Elsie led me into a sitting room. There were a couple book shelves, a couple end tables, and couches. I sat down next to Elsie, our shoulders touching briefly before I scooted away so not to give her the wrong impression.  
  
“Shall I turn on the match?”  
  
I nodded as Elsie lifted her wand from the short, chunky coffee table; she waved it and a television turned on to briefly reveal some romantic comedy before the channel was turning to one of the hidden wizarding channels. Transylvania was zooming around, their Chasers had possession as they flew toward England’s Keeper. The score in the top left corner of the screen revealed that England had a twenty point lead, though that was subtracted by ten when one of Transylvania’s Chasers aimed for the centre hoop, the quaffle soaring through its target. It was easy to forget that the wizarding community had gained some extra luxuries that muggles were already so used to, like televisions, since electronics still weren’t common. I hadn’t grown up with it, neither had my roommates, so we made due with the Wizarding Wireless Network on an old radio. If we really wanted to watch a match, then we would just go to the stadium. Luckily travel was made easy for wizards.  
  
“This is pretty cool,” I said, motioning at the television. “I forget that there’s a way to add those few magical channels. Then again, we don’t have a telly at the flat. No need for one. The wireless is good enough to listen to the matches that we don’t go to.”  
  
“I probably wouldn’t have a telly if my parents hadn’t bought me one a couple Christmases ago,” Elsie said. “I rarely watch it, but sometimes it’s nice. I enjoy some of the muggle shows, too.”  
  
“There aren’t that many magical channels, right?”  
  
“Nope,” Elsie said. “Just one for magical sports, mainly Quidditch, the news, and gossip. Most of the gossip circles around famous Quidditch players, like your cousin. He’s constantly being gushed over.”  
  
“He’s at the height of his career, so it makes sense.”  
  
“That it does,” Elsie said. “He’s still young, too, so there’s plenty of playing time ahead of him.”  
  
“Also helps that he has his head on his shoulders for the most part,” I said. “Uncle Harry has kept him and his siblings well grounded. None of them expect things to just be handed to them since they’ve had to work for what they wanted as much as the rest of us.”  
  
“That’s good.”  
  
Elsie scooted closer, causing me to swallow as her hand landed on the top of my knee. The physical contact caused my heart to speed up.  
  
Before I thought to lean away, Elsie was closing the distance. Her lips found mine and I was kissing back within seconds. My brain was left out of the loop. All decision making was in the now, based entirely on the need to continue touching Elsie Short at all cost. I hadn’t felt this way since our lift kiss. Nice to know it hadn’t been a fluke. Maybe we did have lasting power, I thought.  
  
We continued snogging for longer than several minutes. Perhaps an hour or so. I lost track of time. Eventually we stopped and I was disapparating from her front porch. She had left her taste on my breath, though it was pleasant. I almost didn’t want to brush my teeth, even if that would be disgusting. In the end, I brushed my teeth before stripping down to just my knickers and tumbling into the folds of my bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: This is the last completed chapter I have written so it'll be a bit before I can finish writing the next since I'm working on a couple other fics at the moment. I'm going to try to get it finished and posted soon just because I've missed writing some Louis. No promises, though, since life has been pretty hectic. All I know is I want to actively make it an effort of incorporate daily writing into my daily schedule.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: Here's a Potter-Weasley Family Tree to give you an idea of ages and where this story falls into the HP-verse timeline:
> 
> Bill Weasley -- Fleur Delacour  
> Victoire Weasley (29) married Teddy R. Lupin (30)  
> Dominique Weasley (25)  
> Louis Weasley (23)
> 
> Charlie Weasley - single
> 
> Percy Weasley -- Audrey Clearwater {younger sister of Penelope}  
> Molly Weasley (II) (27) {married}  
> Lucy Weasley (21)
> 
> Fred Weasley - deceased {RIP}
> 
> George Weasley -- Angelina Johnson  
> Fred Weasley (II) (25)  
> Roxianne Weasley (23)
> 
> Ron Weasley -- Hermione Granger  
> Rose Weasley (24)  
> Hugo Weasley (22)
> 
> Ginny Weasley -- Harry Potter  
> James Sirius Potter (II) (25)  
> Albus Severus Potter – (24)  
> Lily Luna Potter (II) (22)
> 
> Luna Lovegood – Rolf S. had two sons, Lorcan S. and Lysander S. (twins) (22)
> 
> Neville Longbottom – Hannah Abbot had a son, Frank Longbottom II (22)


End file.
